The Iowa Supreme Court said in a ruling today that a Warren County judge’s instructions to a jury hearing a fraud case against former Indianola City Attorney John Hoyman were flawed, and as a result dismissed his conviction and ordered a new trial before a different judge.

Hoyman’s attorney, Mark Weinhardt, had asked Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger to recuse herself from the trial. The Supreme Court did not address that issue but in ordering the new trial said that it would be before a different judge.

Defense attorneys argued in the appeal that several aspects of Ebinger’s instructions to the jury were deficient. Hoyman, who had held the part-time position of city attorney since 1986, was convicted of first-degree fraudulent practice, and he was sentenced to an indeterminate term of up to 10 years in prison.

Ebinger dismissed a charge of felonious misconduct in office, and the jury found Hoyman not guilty of theft. Hoyman had conceded that his past bills were inaccurate, but argued the city largely condoned this practice.

He further maintained that he did not bill for more time than he had actually worked overall on city matters. During the trial, it was determined that beginning in 2006 Hoyman stopped using the names of actual individuals he had prosecuted and began putting phantom names on his bills.

Hoyman would use names of people he knew or would select names at random from a phone book or a platting map of Warren County. Additionally, Hoyman began including more trials on his bills than had actually taken place on certain days.

The irregularities came to light in 2012 when Hoyman’s bills were reviewed by the then acting city manager.