Legal Question in Criminal Law in Iowa

My friend pawned some items totaling a little over $100 that belonged to his girlfriend at the time. After an argument, she pressed charges and claimed theft. She has since tried to drop the charges, but they have been picked up by the state of Iowa (he is a Nebraska resident). Also, according to the detective on the case, they have pulled all of his pawn records and though no other complaints have been filed, they are using the total amount of all items he has ever pawned as the dollar amount for the charges in this case. He has no priors in Iowa on no criminal record in Nebraska other than a DUI several months ago. He is currently being held in Nebraska is awaiting extradition to Iowa. The big concern here is if they are counting every item he has pawned, the charges will be much worse that just the original offense. What steps should he take to prevent being charged for more than the original offense? Can they do that? What kind of penalty is he looking at if convicted? He's a good kid and being in jail these past few days has been frightening for him.


Asked on 9/25/09, 6:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

Your friend has nothing much to say about what he'll be charged with. I suspect it is substantially more than a mere theft 5th. I do hope he has a convincing explanation for where the other stuff he pawned came from.

I suggest that he obtain the services of a competent criminal defense lawyer once he's been extradited.

Read more
Answered on 9/26/09, 12:00 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in Iowa