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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 1-756 / 11-0043 Filed November 23, 2011

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. IOWA DISTRICT COURT FOR HAMILTON COUNTY, Defendant-Appellee. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hamilton County, William J. Pattinson, Judge.

The State appeals the district court's determination that a defendant is only required to serve one additional term of parole or work release despite being sentenced to terms of confinement on three counts of lascivious acts with a minor. AFFIRMED.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, William A. Hill, Assistant Attorney General, for appellant. Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Vidhya K. Reddy, Assistant Appellate Defender, for Ronny Fortune, appellee.

Heard by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Doyle, JJ.

2 VAITHESWARAN, P.J. Ronny Fortune entered Alford1 pleas to three counts of lascivious acts with a child, in violation of Iowa Code section 709.8 (2001). The district court

sentenced him to three prison terms not exceeding five years each, to be served consecutively. Additionally, pursuant to Iowa Code section 709.8, the court

ordered Fortune "to serve an additional term of parole or work release not to exceed two years upon the expiration of the preceding sentence." Fortune and the State moved to clarify this last portion of the sentencing order. They specifically asked the court to explain whether the additional twoyear term was "a single two-year sentence or three consecutive two-year additional terms." The district court concluded that Iowa Code section 709.8 "could only have had a duration of two years, total." The court continued, "The pertinent statutes, as they then existed, did not authorize the imposition of three separate and consecutive `additional' sentences, and I did not intend any such thing." The State appealed. On appeal, the State frames the issue as follows: "[W]hether

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