Deferred Judgment Gets Yanked on Jensen

State v. Iowa District Court for Johnson County, no. 06-0203 (Iowa Apr. 27, 2007)

One David Jensen got plowed in a bar in Solon and was subsequently arrested for driving while intoxicated. When he blew for the record, Jensen scored a .170 on the DataMaster.
Duly convicted, Jensen was granted a deferred judgment over the state's objections and the clear import of Iowa Code section 321J.2(3)(a)(1) which prohibits deferred judgments when the defendant's BAC is over .150.

Experts testified that at the time of the driving Jensen would not have absorbed enough alcohol to exceed .150.

The Supreme Court held that the application of the statute did not depend on proof that the defendant's BAC exceeded .150 and that Jensen's interpretation of the statute would compel adding additional language "at the time of driving" to the statute, something the legislature did not do.