IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 18-1254
Filed March 6, 2019
STATE OF IOWA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
vs.
JOSEPH ERIC FUNKE,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey D. Farrell,
Judge.
Joseph Funke appeals the sentence entered following his guilty plea to
possession of methamphetamine, third offense. AFFIRMED.
Tabitha L. Turner of Turner Law Firm, PLLC, West Des Moines, for
appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Thomas E. Bakke, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee.
Considered by Vogel, C.J., Vaitheswaran, J., and Mahan, S.J.*
*Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206 (2019).
2
VAITHESWARAN, Judge.
Joseph Funke pled guilty to possession of a controlled substance
(methamphetamine), third offense. See Iowa Code section 124.401(5) (2017).
The district court adjudged him guilty of the crime and sentenced him to prison,
with the sentence to be served consecutively to a sentence for a separate crime,
for a term not exceeding seven years.
On appeal, Funke contends the district court abused its discretion in
imposing a prison term. See State v. Seats, 865 N.W.2d 545, 552 (Iowa 2015)
(setting forth standard of review). He suggests “there were additional options
available which would have provided more structure for [him] and possibl[y] aided
in his rehabilitation effort.”
The district court addressed this issue. The court noted that Funke could
have received probation rather than prison time as he requested had he simply
continued in the treatment program he was attending when the presentence
investigator interviewed him. However, the day before his originally scheduled
sentencing hearing, Funke was “booted out of the treatment program.” He failed
to appear for sentencing.1 The court queried, “[W]hy would I think you’re going to
make it through a treatment program if you can’t even make it through the
treatment program while you’re awaiting your sentencing hearing?” The court
concluded Funke was not “a good risk” and a prison sentence might serve as a
“wake-up call” to move towards rehabilitation.
1
A warrant was issued for Funke’s arrest, and the sentencing hearing was rescheduled.
3
We discern no abuse of discretion in the district court’s sentencing decision.
Accordingly, we affirm his conviction, judgment and sentence for possession of
methamphetamine third offense.
AFFIRMED.