## Facts

- Paula J. McKee was an employee at a state mental health institution and had responsibility for a resident.
- The State charged McKee under Iowa Code § 726.7 with wanton neglect of a resident of a health care facility.
- The trial information alleged McKee knowingly acted in a manner injurious to the resident’s physical welfare.
- The minutes of testimony alleged McKee committed multiple physical acts against the resident, causing minor injuries.
- The district court dismissed the charge on the ground that § 726.7 was unconstitutionally vague.
- The State appealed the dismissal.

## Issues

1. Whether Iowa Code § 726.7 is facially void for vagueness because it fails to give a person of ordinary intelligence fair warning of prohibited conduct.
2. Whether Iowa Code § 726.7 is facially void for vagueness because it lacks explicit enforcement standards and invites arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement.

## Decision

- Reversed the district court’s dismissal and remanded for further proceedings.
- Held Iowa Code § 726.7 is not unconstitutionally vague on its face.
- Concluded the statute provides sufficient notice and sufficiently definite enforcement standards, particularly when read as a whole and in context.

## Legal Principles

- A penal statute is unconstitutionally vague only if it (1) fails to give fair warning to a person of ordinary intelligence and (2) fails to provide explicit standards for enforcement.
- Statutes carry a presumption of constitutionality; the challenger bears a heavy burden, and courts will adopt a reasonable construction that preserves validity.
- Statutory meaning may be fairly ascertained from common usage, dictionaries, related statutes, judicial decisions, common law concepts, and legislative purpose.
- General statutory language is not void for vagueness when its core prohibition is understandable in context and is narrowed by mens rea and an objective risk threshold (here, “knowingly” and “likely to be injurious”).

## Conclusion

The Iowa Supreme Court reinstated the prosecution, holding that § 726.7’s requirement that a caregiver knowingly act in a way likely to injure a resident’s physical, mental, or moral welfare supplies constitutionally adequate notice and workable limits on enforcement, defeating a facial vagueness challenge.


State v. McKee, 392 N.W.2d 493 (Iowa 1986)