The Iowa Supreme Court has thrown out rulings that two men are to be held as sexually violent predators because the men did not get a speedy trial. The two separate cases with the same issue involved Alan Fowler of Clinton County and Valjean Lehman of Page County. The district court found Fowler guilty of willful injury causing bodily injury and going armed with intent, and determined those crimes were sexually motivated, and therefore made him a sexually violent predator.
Lehman was found by a jury to be a sexually violent predator. Both appealed the issue saying their trials where not within 90 days of a hearing that determined there was probable cause to go to trial, and thus violated their right to a speedy trial. The state argued that the 90-day limit was not mandatory.
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the 90-day limit is mandatory and dismissed the sexually violent predator findings against both men.