A Polk County District judge denied a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence from a traffic stop initiated by a police officer who could not make out one letter on the vehicle’s license plate because it was partially blocked by a trailer hitch ball.
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in nine cases Nov. 16 and 17. Three other cases will be submitted to the Court without oral argument. Following are short summaries of the November cases. Go to On Brief’s Cases in the Pipeline page to read the briefs in these case …
When a criminal defendant pleads guilty to a crime, it produces the same result as a criminal conviction at trial. So courts have created procedural requirements designed to ensure that any plea is legally and constitutionally valid before it is accepted.
One requirement is that there must be a factual basis for the crim …
The Iowa Supreme Court is responsible for supervising and regulating trial and appellate courts across the state. As the COVID-19 pandemic descended upon the state in early 2020, the Supreme Court was forced to issue emergency orders to protect the public and court staff while keeping the state’s court system functioning. …
The Iowa Supreme Court will go on the road to Denison Oct. 25 to hear oral arguments in an appeal by the State in a case involving a defendant who successfully argued in District Court that the State’s breath test evidence in a drunk-driving prosecution is inadmissible because he does not speak English and did not underst …
When Dubuque police officer Katherine Avenarius accidentally shot herself in the leg while attending an Iowa Law Enforcement Academy firearms instructor school, she sued the academy claiming her injury was the result of an instructor’s advice on how to handle her firearm that contradicted how she had previously been trained. The State, which operates the academy, argued Avenarius signed a “clear and unequivocal” waiver and release of liability.
The Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 35-year minimum prison sentence for a Fairfield juvenile who pleaded guilty to first degree murder for the death of his high school Spanish teacher. In its unanimous decision, the Court rejected the defendant’s argument that, under the Iowa Constitution, the State must present expert testimony showing a minimum sentence is necessary for a juvenile offender.
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case involving Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed CO2 pipeline in a special evening session Oct. 8 in the historic Iowa Supreme Court courtroom in the Iowa State Capitol Building.
The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in eight cases Oct. 8-10. Six other cases will be submitted to the Court without argument. Following are brief summaries of the October cases.
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.
