An Iowa man who was about to plead guilty to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy had all his charges dropped because the prosecutor was arrested for being drunk in court at 3pm.
Dennis Simmerman, 23, walked free after Clarke County Attorney Michelle Rivera, 42, was seen 'slurring her words and stumbling on her feet' in the Osceola courtroom.
Judge Marti Mertz issued the ruling and said the prosecutor's unavailability at a recent hearing 'was the finale following unexplained periods of inactivity and lack of responsiveness' since Simmerman's arrest more than a year ago.
A sheriff's deputy arrested Rivera for being drunk on October 18, just moments before Simmerman was scheduled to enter a guilty plea and be sentenced in the case.
Simmerman - who had been sitting in the Clarke County jail for 15 months awaiting trial - later sought a dismissal because he hadn't been tried within a year of his arraignment.
He was initially charged with sex assault and telephone dissemination of obscene material to a minor and investigators say he admitted engaging in sex act with a minor in August 2017.
Mark Pennington, a former Polk County prosecutor, said the state can't refile the same charges against the man.
He said: 'Everybody should be upset about it. That's why you have to hold elected officials, including county attorneys, to a high standard.'