IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 16-0694

Filed September 13, 2017

STATE OF IOWA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

GERALD EMIL RANKIN,

Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Gregory D. Brandt 

(guilty plea) and William A. Price (sentencing), District Associate Judges.

Gerald Rankin appeals the sentence imposed after he pled guilty to the 

charge of reckless use of a firearm. AFFIRMED.

Erin M. Carr of Carr & Wright, P.L.C., Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Louis S. Sloven, Assistant 

Attorney General, for appellee.

Considered by Doyle, P.J., Bower, J., and Goodhue, S.J.*

*Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206 (2017).
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GOODHUE, Senior Judge.

Gerald Rankin entered a written plea of guilty to the charge of reckless 

use of a firearm on February 8, 2016. He requested a deferred judgment, but the 

request was denied. Rankin appeals. We affirm the sentence imposed.

I. Factual Background

When Rankin entered his written plea, there was no agreement as to his 

sentence, but the right to argue the appropriate sentence was preserved. At the 

time of the plea, Rankin’s counsel alerted the court that Rankin would be 

requesting a deferred judgment. The plea court advised Rankin and his counsel 

that Rankin owed several hundred dollars of restitution, fines, and court costs 

from other matters, and the payment of those amounts would be helpful to 

Rankin at the time of sentencing.

Rankin was sentenced on April 8, 2016. He waived the reporting of the 

sentencing. Rankin’s counsel argued that Rankin had made substantial 

payments on his back fines, court costs, and restitution, and that Rankin was in 

fact eligible for a deferred judgment. Rankin contends that, at sentencing, the 

State had advised the court that he was not eligible to receive a deferred 

sentence. 

Rankin’s request for a deferred judgment was denied, and Rankin was 

sentenced to a two-year sentence. The sentence was suspended, and Rankin 

was placed on probation for two years. The court also ordered Rankin to pay a 

$625 fine plus surcharge. The court checked a form sentencing order indicating,

among other things, that it had considered Rankin’s age, character, criminal 
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history, and substance-abuse history, the maximum opportunity for rehabilitation,

and the nature and circumstances of the crime. 

The only record available for review is a reconstruction of the record as 

permitted by Iowa Rule of Appellate Procedure 6.806, which the court filed on 

October 11, 2016. It states that the court has no recollection of the State 

commenting on Rankin’s eligibility for a deferred judgment but recalls Rankin’s 

counsel stating Rankin was, in fact, eligible and had made substantial progress in 

paying off the past-due court-ordered financial obligations. It also states the 

court had entered the sentence believing Rankin was, in fact, eligible for a 

deferred judgment. The order settling the record states the court denied the 

deferred judgment because the court did not consider it appropriate under the 

circumstances. Rankin admitted he had voluntarily discharged a gun in a 

residential apartment when he was intoxicated and attempted to hide from law 

enforcement when they arrived to investigate. 

Rankin also contends he was current on his court-ordered fines, court 

costs, and restitution at the time of sentencing, but the settled record states that,

on the date of the sentencing, the court had checked the financial record on 

EDMS and noted there still were sums due. Rankin filed a record of his 

payments of fines, court costs, and restitution that shows he has paid all court 

obligations except for $28.52 due to the City of Des Moines. The report was 

obtained from the online records of the Polk County Clerk of Courts offices on 

August 15, 2016, and while it shows other fines and costs paid in full, it does not 

say when they were paid or what the status of the record was on April 8, 2016, 
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the date of sentencing. The list of fines and costs, as of August 15, 2016, 

indicates Rankin has a rather lengthy record of criminal offenses.

II. Error Preservation and Standard of Review

The rules regarding error preservation do not apply to an attack on 

sentencing. See Lathrop v. State, 781 N.W.2d 288, 292-93 (Iowa 2010). “A 

defendant’s sentence is generally within the discretion of the trial court absent 

the use of an impermissible factor.” State v. Knight, 701 N.W.2d 83, 85 (Iowa 

2005). An abuse of discretion will only be found when a court acts on grounds 

clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable, and on review, we grant 

the trial court’s sentencing order a strong presumption in its favor. State v. 

Hopkins, 860 N.W.2d 550, 553 (Iowa 2015). In reviewing sentencing, we do not 

substitute our judgment of what is an appropriate sentence but modify only when 

the sentence imposed is unreasonable or the court relied on improper evidence. 

Id. at 554. 

III. Discussion

Apparently Rankin is contending the court relied on improper evidence,

but our review of the settled record does not indicate that to be the case. The 

court believed Rankin was qualified to receive a deferred judgment on the date of 

the sentencing. There is nothing to indicate the court relied on unpaid fines or,

for that matter, whether any unpaid fines, court costs, and restitution remained as 

of the date of sentencing. 

Rankin objects that the sentence imposed and the reasons for it were not 

announced and tailored to his situation. The court’s use of a written record of the 

reasons for a sentence is an acceptable practice for stating why a particular 
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sentence has been imposed. See State v. Thompson, 856 N.W.2d 915, 919 

(Iowa 2014). 

Rankin’s claims have no merit. The sentence imposed is affirmed.

AFFIRMED.