The Iowa Supreme Court has overruled the “lifetime parole” imposed on a man convicted of having sex with a young teenager. Ritchie Lee Lathrop of Cedar Rapids was convicted of third-degree sexual abuse for having sex with a 14-year-old girl when he was 27 years old. He wasn’t sent to prison, but put on parole.
However, Lathrop was sentenced to “lifetime parole” and Lathrop was not to have contact with anyone under the age of 18 unless he had the permission of his probation officer. Lathrop appealed and the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled the “no-contact” order was “unreasonable.” The justices sent the case back to the district court, directing the lower court judge to “fashion a more realistic” limit on Lathrop’s interactions with people under the age of 18 during his probationary period.
The high court also overturned Lathrop’s “lifetime” parole, as the crime happened before the lifetime parole provision became law.