State v. Jennings

Defendant appeals judgment entered on his plea of guilty of breaking and entering. The sole question presented is whether the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing defendant to a term not to exceed ten years in the state reformatory, the maximum under the applicable statute, Code section 708.8.

In State v. DeVan, Iowa, 1973, 205 N.W.2d 699, 700, we recognized the following legal principles:

“It is our duty to carefully consider whether the punishment is too severe. Where the judgment does not exceed the statutory maximum, it is only where an abuse of the trial court’s discretion is…