Q: Once a judge accepts a plea with a certain sentence can the judge change that sentence
The plea was for unsupervised probation, and after the judge accepted the plea changed it to supervised probation, can they do that?
A: Generally once a plea has been accepted, that includes any stipulated sentence. However, in my jurisdiction, the judge has authority to decide the length of probation at sentencing. If a judge rejects the plea for some reason, the defendant will generally have the option of withdrawing the plea. Also in my jurisdiction, if a judge rejects the plea, a defendant can request a new judge.
A:
In Iowa, where this question appears to have been asked, the judge generally retains the latitude to accept a plea while rejecting a plea offer and imposing any legal sentence. Yes, that would include changing unsupervised probation to supervised probation. If you have questions about this, you should discuss it with your attorney.
If you filed a written plea, you may find that a phrase like "the Court is not bound by the plea agreement and may give me the maximum sentence allowed by law, including any enhanced sentence" is written right into the document that you presumably reviewed and signed.
You cannot request a new judge in Iowa because you don't like that the judge rejected your plea or imposed a sentence you didn't like.
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