Danielle Brown was one of five people in the bedroom of a house when a Des Moines police SWAT team swarmed in to execute a warrant naming a male occupant of the house to be searched for drugs and weapons. Brown was not named in…
Former Iowa State Sen. Kent Sorenson’s 15-month sentence in federal prison for lying about taking payments for political endorsements was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in St. Louis Tuesday. Federal prosecutors had recommended probation, but U.S. District Judge Robert…
The Iowa Supreme Court is being asked to take another step toward protecting juvenile offenders from prison sentences designed for adults in an appeal set for argument Tuesday. In State v. Noah Crooks, the appellant argues that the State cannot legally or constitutionally prosecute a…
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that a warrantless breath test used to prosecute Dale Pettijohn for operating a boat while intoxicated violated Article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution, the state equivalent of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment that prohibits unreasonable searches and…
Law enforcement authorities who dilly-dally in investigating crimes face the prospect of losing at trial because the statute of limitations clock has run out, the Iowa Supreme ruled Friday. The Court threw out the 2015 conviction of Eddie Tipton, a former Multistate Lottery Association security…
The Court heard oral argument in In re Detention of Harlow on September 9 and filed its opinion on October 9. Chief Justice Christensen wrote for the court that unanimously affirmed the district court’s judgment committing Joshua Harlow as a sexually violent predator (SVP).
On September 10, the Iowa Supreme Court heard the oral arguments in the case of State v. Belt and issued its opinion on October 2.
Is it inherently prejudicial to have a uniformed sheriff’s deputy stand next to the witness box while the defendant testifies?
Under what circumstances may a court reviewing a religious university’s decision to deny a religious exemption under the Iowa Civil Rights Act determine whether a student’s religious beliefs are genuine?
On Brief: Iowa’s Appellate Blog is devoted to appellate litigation with a focus on the Iowa Supreme Court, the Iowa Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
