State v. Davis

REYNOLDSON, Chief Justice.

This appeal involves the legal issue whether a Fort Madison penitentiary prisoner who without authority fails to return to a designated place within the prison walls commits the crime of escape as defined by § 745.1, The Code 1975.

Defendant was tried and convicted of the crime of escape under § 745.1. The judgment was affirmed by a divided Iowa Court of Appeals. Upon further review we vacate the court of appeals decision and reverse the district court judgment entered on defendant’s conviction.

There is no real controversy about the operative facts. Defendant was…