Court Opinion

ID: 9687001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:13:30.030413+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:23.582033
License: Public Domain

McCORMICK, Justice
(concurring specially).
I agree that we have jurisdiction of this appeal and that defendant’s constitutional challenges to Code § 321.463 are without merit.
However, I do not share the majority’s view that the anomaly of the admission procedure of § 753.16 is more apparent than real and that a defendant who utilizes the procedure thereby waives his constitutional rights. The validity of an indictable misdemeanor conviction obtained through the mail without a formal district court charge or proceeding or representation by counsel is open to serious question on due process grounds. See State v. Sisco, 169 N.W.2d 542 (Iowa 1969). Procedural shortcuts which would be appropriate in prosecuting a petty offense or in collecting a civil penalty are out of place when a serious crime is charged.
Because the present case does not involve a Sisco problem I concur in the result.
MASON and RAWLINGS, JJ., join this special concurrence.