Opinion ID: 1850788
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Heading: Iowa Code section 708.2A pertinently provides:

Text: 1. For the purposes of this chapter, domestic abuse assault means an assault, as defined in section 708.1, which is domestic abuse as defined in section 236.2. 2. On a first offense of domestic abuse assault, the person commits: a. A simple misdemeanor for a domestic abuse assault, except as otherwise provided. b. [A serious misdemeanor.] c. [An aggravated misdemeanor.] .... 4. A person convicted of violating this section shall serve a minimum term of two days of the sentence imposed by law, and shall not be eligible for suspension of the minimum sentence. The minimum term shall be served on consecutive days. This section does not prohibit the court from sentencing and the defendant from serving the maximum term of confinement or from paying the maximum fine permitted pursuant to chapters 902 and 903, and does not prohibit the court from entering a deferred judgment or sentence pursuant to section 907.3, if the defendant has not previously received a deferred sentence or judgment for a violation of section 708.2 or this section which was issued on a domestic abuse assault. However, once the defendant has received one deferred sentence or judgment involving a violation of section 708.2 or this section which was issued on a domestic abuse assault, the defendant shall not be eligible to receive another deferred sentence or judgment for a violation of this section. Iowa Code § 708.2A (Supp.1991). At first blush it seems abundantly clear that section 708.2A(4) requires a violator to serve at least two days in jail unless the sentencing court grants a one-time only deferred judgment or sentence. Sagert, however, thinks this section allows a sentencing court discretion to impose a fine without imposing a minimum two-day jail term in simple misdemeanor cases. He reaches this conclusion, in part, from the following language in section 708.2A(4): This section does not prohibit the court from sentencing and the defendant from serving the maximum term of confinement or from paying the maximum fine permitted pursuant to chapter[ ] ... 903. (Emphasis added.) Sagert argues that the legislature's use of the word or signals its intent that a sentencing court has discretion to impose the maximum jail term (30 days) or the maximum fine ($100) as provided in Iowa Code section 903.1(1)(a). Sagert further argues that section 708.2A(4) and section 903.1(1)(a) must be read and construed together because they involve the same subject matter. He points out that the imprisonment and fine in section 903.1(1)(a) are mutually exclusive sentencing options. In other words, a sentencing court may impose one or the other but not both. Sagert asserts that reading section 708.2A(4) as requiring a minimum two-day jail term would in effect be saying that a fine and a jail term are available in all misdemeanor domestic abuse assault cases. This, he says, would in effect be reading the words and or or both into sections 708.2A(4) and 903.1(1)(a), contrary to our statutory rules of construction. Therefore, he concludes, when the entire text of section 708.2A(4) is read and construed in conjunction with section 903.1(1)(a), the sentencing courts here had discretion to impose either jail terms or fines but not both. The State insists that the third sentence in section 708.2A(4), the language Sagert relies on, [1] must be read in conjunction with the first sentence. [2] The reasonable interpretation that results, the State says, is this: the two-day minimum jail requirement does not limit the sentencing court's authority to order the full jail term. In the State's view, the legislature wanted teeth in its domestic abuse law. The legislature accomplished this by providing both a mandatory minimum sentence and assurance that the existence of a mandatory minimum would not preclude the imposition of the maximum sentence possible. In short, the State says, the legislature obviously did not want the two-day jail term to become the standard sentence for all domestic abuse assaults. In the case of simple misdemeanors, this means the legislature wanted violators to spend at least two, with the possibility of up to the full thirty, days in jail. We think the State has the better argument, and its argument is more consistent with what we think the legislature had in mind. The legislature made it very clear that it meant the two days had to be served when it provided that violators shall not be eligible for suspension of the minimum sentence. Iowa Code § 708.2A(4). Clearly, the legislature by this language has expressed its intent to eliminate sentencing options when it comes to the minimum two-day period of incarceration. See State v. Chana, 476 N.W.2d 38, 39 (Iowa 1991). Sagert's interpretation would render this language meaningless. In contrast, the State's interpretation gives the words meaning and substance. In addition, language in Iowa Code section 903.1(1) supports the State's argument. Section 903.1(1) is the general sentencing statute for various misdemeanors. It provides for the discretion a sentencing court must exercise and the options available to it in imposing a sentence for persons convicted of such misdemeanors. We think section 903.1(1) excepts the minimum two-day jail sentence in section 708.2A(4) from the grant of discretion: [i]f a person ... is convicted of a simple or serious misdemeanor and a specific penalty is not provided for ..., the court shall determine the sentence .... Read together, these statutessection 903.1(1) and section 708.2A(4)direct the sentencing court to impose the specific two-day minimum jail term in section 708.2A(4). In addition to this specific penalty which must be imposed and must be served, the sentencing court has the discretion in cases of simple misdemeanors either to increase the jail term up to thirty days or to impose a fine up to a maximum of $100. Of course, if the sentencing court grants a one-time only deferred judgment or sentence, the mandatory minimum jail term is not imposed. See Iowa Code § 708.2A(4). We agree with the State that the legislature's aim in imposing a mandatory minimum jail term was to deter domestic violence, a problem that has reached alarming proportions in this state. Given the overcrowding of jails, it is no surprise to us that sentencing courts have chosen to interpret section 708.2A(4) as giving them discretion not to impose the minimum sentence. However, regardless of whether sentencing courts agree with the wisdom of the law, they are bound to apply it. See State v. Ohnmacht, 342 N.W.2d 838, 842-43 (Iowa 1983) (Despite personal beliefs or good intentions, a sentencing court is bound to impose the sentence prescribed by statute.). Because the judicial magistrates were required to impose the mandatory minimum two-day jail term unless they granted one-time only deferred judgments or sentences, the sentences imposed are void. We vacate the sentences in both cases and remand them for resentencing consistent with this opinion. We do not mean to imply what the sentences ought to be except to state that mandatory minimum two-day jail terms must be imposed and served if deferred judgments or sentences are not granted. VACATED AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.