The Iowa Court of Appeals rules banning restitution is not part of a ruling that bans mandatory life sentences for juveniles. The case involves Shannon Breeden, who helped her boyfriend murder Paula Heiser of Davenport in 2002.
Breeden, who was 16 at the time, was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of attempted murder in exchange for testimony against her boyfriend. She was given a mandatory sentence of 25 years and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to Heiser’s estate.
Breeden was later resentenced to a prison term not to exceed 25 years after the U.S. Supreme Court and subsequent Iowa Supreme Court rulings that mandatory sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional. The restitution amount stayed the same, and Breeden appealed, saying the restitution should be unconstitutional for juveniles the same as mandatory sentences.
The Iowa Court of Appeals says it will not expand the ruling on mandatory sentences to include restitution, as that is an issue for the Iowa Supreme Court to decide.
The appeals court issued a similar ruling in another case involving Diamonay Richardson of Cedar Rapids. She was 16 when she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2013. She also appealed the restitution in her case.
Here’s the full ruling: Breeden ruling PDF