Opinion ID: 2048075
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Heading: Defendant's Jurisdictional Argument.

Text: At the outset, we consider a jurisdictional argument lodged by the defendant. He claims that the State is not entitled to an appeal as a matter of right from the October 7, 1987, order barring further prosecution. He bases his claim on language contained in State v. Edwards, 279 N.W.2d 9, 10 (Iowa 1979), which indicates that the State may appeal as of right only in cases where the defendant has not previously been placed in jeopardy. We disagree with this conclusion. First, to the extent that the argument is based on statutory interpretation, the statute under consideration in the Edwards case was section 793.1 of the 1977 Iowa Code. The appeal of the State in the present case was taken pursuant to Iowa Code section 814.5(1)(a) (1985). That statute grants the state a right of appeal from [a]n order dismissing an indictment, information, or any count thereof. Moreover, we believe the reference in the Edwards case to instances where the defendant had not been placed in jeopardy was intended to denote that no appeal as of right would be granted in instances where the defendant had been acquitted in the district court. See, e.g., State v. Fairmont Creamery Co., 153 Iowa 702, 716, 133 N.W. 895, 896-97 (1911). The latter consideration, we believe, pertains to issues of mootness rather than questions of jurisdiction. Such considerations are not present where the issue raised in the appeal is whether the double jeopardy bar should be invoked in instances where an acquittal has not occurred.