For a period of one year from the date when a person convicted of a felony, other than
a class “A” or class “B” felony, begins to serve a sentence of confinement, the court, on its
own motion or on the recommendation of the director of the Iowa department of corrections,
may order the person to be returned to the court, at which time the court may review its
previous action and reaffirm it or substitute for it any sentence permitted by law. Copies of
the order to return the person to the court shall be provided to the attorney for the state, the
defendant’s attorney, and the defendant. Upon a request of the attorney for the state, the
defendant’s attorney, or the defendant if the defendant has no attorney, the court may, but is
not required to, conduct a hearing on the issue of reconsideration of sentence. The court shall
not disclose its decision to reconsider or not to reconsider the sentence of confinement until
the date reconsideration is ordered or the date the one-year period expires, whichever occurs
first. The district court retains jurisdiction for the limited purposes of conducting such review
and entering an appropriate order notwithstanding the timely filing of a notice of appeal.
The court’s final order in the proceeding shall be delivered to the defendant personally or by
regular mail. The court’s decision to take the action or not to take the action is not subject to
appeal. However, for the purposes of appeal, a judgment of conviction of a felony is a final
judgment when pronounced.
[C79, 81, §902.4]
83 Acts, ch 96, §129, 159; 84 Acts, ch 1139, §1; 84 Acts, ch 1149, §1; 97 Acts, ch 189, §1;
2001 Acts, ch 165, §5; 2003 Acts, ch 151, §59; 2017 Acts, ch 122, §16
Referred to in §901.5, 902.6
\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
13
cases (
4 in the last 5 years), 1988–2026 · leading case:
State v. Sweet, 879 N.W.2d 811 (Iowa 2016).
State v. Sweet, 879 N.W.2d 811 (Iowa 2016).
“See Iowa Code § 902.4 (2015) (allowing the court to reconsider a felony sentence within the first year of conviction, excluding mandatoly minimum sentences and class “A” felonies).”
State v. Canas, 571 N.W.2d 20 (Iowa 1997).
· cites it 3× “See Iowa Code § 902.4 . The State made no objection to the motion.”
Grissom v. State, 572 N.W.2d 183 (Iowa Ct. App. 1997).
“Iowa Code §§ 902.4 , 903.2. After this time has passed without an order indicating an intention to reconsider, the district court has no power to alter a sentence.”
Hewitt v. Iowa Dist. Court for Wapello Cnty., 538 N.W.2d 291 (Iowa 1995).
“2 allows the district court to reconsider a misdemeanant’s sentence under the following circumstances: For a period of thirty days from the date when a person convicted of a misdemeanor begins to serve a sentence of confinement, the court may order the person to be returned to…”
State of Iowa v. David Daniel Gordon (Iowa 2023).
· cites it 3× “Gordon appealed the sentence but also filed a motion with the district court requesting reconsideration of the sentence under Iowa Code § 902.4 . The district court held a hearing on the motion several months later.”
State v. Hogge, 420 N.W.2d 458 (Iowa 1988).
“…for certain crimes within the first 90 days after the defendant begins to serve a sentence of confinement. See Iowa Code § 902.4 (1987).”
State of Iowa v. Isaiah Richard Sweet (Iowa 2016).
“See Iowa Code § 902.4 (2015) (allowing the court to reconsider a felony sentence within the first year of conviction, excluding mandatory minimum sentences and class “A” felonies).”
State v. Null (Iowa Ct. App. 2018).
“…time the court may review its previous action and reaffirm it or substitute for it any sentence permitted by law. Iowa Code § 902.4 .”
Clyde Winthrop Hinkle v. State of Iowa (Iowa Ct. App. 2023).
“See Iowa Code § 902.4 (2018). The court denied the motion stating, “The court’s sentence in this case was appropriate in light of the nature of this offense.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.