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Defendant Christopher Hidlebaugh pleaded guilty to violating Iowa’s sex offender registration requirement after living with a friend in Perry, Iowa—where his family lives—for several weeks without updating his address. In a plea agreement, the State and Mr. Hidlebaugh committed to jointly recommend a suspended sentence with probation if Mr. Hidlebaugh provided proof that he purchased a house by the time of sentencing. If he had not purchased a home, the plea agreement provided that the parties would jointly recommend prison.

When sentencing occurred two and a half months after the plea hearing, Mr. Hidlebaugh had been unable to purchase a home, due in part to his credit history. As a result of his inability to purchase a house, the district court sentenced him to a fifteen-year indeterminate prison sentence, with a mandatory minimum of three years before parole.

The ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative and the ÌÒ×ÓÊÓƵof Iowa filed an amicus brief arguing that the district court’s imposition of a prison sentence based at least in part on Mr. Hidlebaugh’s financial inability to purchase a home violates equal protection. In the brief, we write that a defendant’s purchase of real property should not determine his punishment, particularly if harsher punishment is imposed without an assessment at the time of sentencing of a defendant’s ability to pay.