DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled a Johnston mother who left her children alone to go on a trip to Germany must be re-sentenced.
Erin Macke was sentenced to two years of probation after entering an Alford plea to four counts of child endangerment.
Macke believed that prosecutors had agreed the conviction would be removed from her record after she served her sentences, as part of her plea deal.
However, prosecutors entered a different deal into the record and the judge approved it.
The Iowa Supreme Court issued its ruling Friday, saying Macke's lawyers could have objected to the change in the plea deal, but they didn't.
Back in 2017, police were called to Macke's home where four children aged 12 and under had been left alone. One of the children had called their father, Macke's ex-husband.
Police also found an unloaded handgun but the charge of making a firearm available to a person under the age of 21 was dismissed in the plea deal.
She will be re-sentenced in Polk County, but no date has been set.
