IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 14-0561

Filed November 23, 2016

STATE OF IOWA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

ERIC GENE THOMPSON,

Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Todd A. Geer, 

Judge.

Defendant challenges his convictions for felony eluding and operating 

while intoxicated. AFFIRMED.

John P. Beauvais Jr., of Deck law L.L.P., Sioux City, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Kristin Guddall, Assistant 

Attorney General, for appellee.

Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Doyle and McDonald, JJ.
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MCDONALD, Judge.

Eric Thompson pleaded guilty to felony eluding and operating while 

intoxicated, second offense. In this appeal, Thompson challenges his 

convictions, contending his plea was not intelligently made and this matter must 

be remanded because the district court failed to advise him of the surcharges to 

be imposed for each offense. We affirm the defendant’s convictions.

Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.8(2)(b) requires the district court, 

before accepting a plea of guilty, to advise the defendant of certain information to 

make sure the defendant’s guilty plea is intelligently made. As relevant here, the 

district court must advise the defendant of “[t]he mandatory minimum 

punishment, if any, and the maximum possible punishment provided by the 

statute defining the offense to which the plea is offered.” Iowa R. Crim. P. 

2.8(2)(b)(2). In State v. Fisher, 877 N.W.2d 676, 686 n.6 (Iowa 2016), the 

supreme court held “actual compliance with rule 2.8(2)(b)(2) requires disclosure 

of all applicable . . . surcharges” associated with the offense to which the plea is 

offered. The court declined to decide “whether failure to disclose the surcharges 

alone would have meant the plea did not substantially comply with rule 

2.8(2)(b)(2).” Id. 

We cannot resolve the question left open in Fisher, however, because 

Thompson’s claim is not preserved for our review. Generally, “[a] defendant’s 

failure to challenge the adequacy of a guilty plea proceeding by motion in arrest 

of judgment shall preclude the defendant’s right to assert such challenge on 

appeal.” Iowa R. Crim. P. 2.24(3)(a). The rule precluding appellate relief does 

not apply where the plea court failed to advise the defendant “during the plea 
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proceedings, as required by rule 2.8(2)(d), that challenges to the plea must be 

made in a motion in arrest of judgment and that the failure to challenge the plea 

by filing the motion within the time provided prior to sentencing precludes a right 

to assert the challenge on appeal.” State v. Meron, 675 N.W.2d 537, 540 (Iowa 

2004). Here, Thompson did not file a motion in arrest of judgment, but he 

contends the district court failed to comply with Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 

2.8(2)(d) and inform him the failure to file a motion in arrest of judgment would 

preclude him from challenging his guilty plea on appeal. See State v. Loye, 670 

N.W.2d 141, 149–50 (Iowa 2003). Thompson’s claim is belied by the record. 

The district court explicitly told Thompson if he “would ever want to challenge” his 

guilty plea, he would have to timely file a motion in arrest of judgment. The 

district court’s use of the word “ever” communicated to the defendant “all

avenues for challenging the plea were being cut off.” Fisher, 877 N.W.2d at 681. 

The district court’s advisory substantially complied with Rule 2.8(2)(d). See State 

v. Straw, 709 N.W.2d 128, 132 (Iowa 2006) (“We employ a substantial 

compliance standard in determining whether a trial court has discharged its duty 

under rule 2.8(2)(d).”); State v. Camp, No. 11-1331, 2012 WL 2407675, at *2 

(Iowa Ct. App. June 27, 2012) (holding advisory “if you don’t file such a motion, 

then you are precluded from ever attacking the guilty plea” substantially complied 

with Rule 2.8(2)(d)). 

We affirm the defendant’s convictions without further opinion. See Iowa 

Ct. R. 21.26(1)(a) and (e).

AFFIRMED.