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 …
The Iowa Supreme Court entered opinions in ten cases during March 2024. These opinions are summarized below.
Cedar Rapids resident Robert Teig asked Cedar Rapids city officials for records related to the hiring of a new city clerk and city attorney. When they mostly denied Teig’s requests, he filed suit naming six Cedar Rapids officials as defendants, which the Linn County District Court dismissed on summary judgment.
Teig ma …
Lasondra Johnson was tried for first-degree murder for the shooting death of Jada Young-Mills outside a Waterloo residence. Johnson argued she acted in self defense and the shooting was justified under Iowa’s “stand your ground” law that says a person is justified in the use of reasonable force in the belief that such …
The Iowa Code requires that a plaintiff who brings medical malpractice claims in state court serve the defendant with an affidavit signed by an expert witness regarding the merits of the claim that the medical provider was negligent. The statute requires that the affidavit be signed under oath obligating the witness to be t …
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.
