The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a defendant who has plead guilty to a crime can still appeal and challenge his conviction if the appeal alleges that the conviction violates the Constitution (i.e. the statute was unconstitutional).
Before a no contact order is extended, a Defendant/Respondent must be given the opportunity to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she no longer poses a threat to the victim. If that burden is met, then the no contact order must be terminated.
Iowa Supreme Court confirms that the preliminary breath test result (pbt) is inadmissible in the OWI context, even if the pbt was taken by a probation officer, and even if the Defendant made admissions of guilt.
For an admission of a prior offense for enhancement purposes to be valid, the court must engage in a specific colloquy with a defendant to ensure that the admission is knowingly and voluntarily made.
Iowa Supreme Court holds that indecent exposure under Iowa code section 709.9 requires an in-person exposure, as opposed to transmission of a photograph.
State dismisses felony drug charge against my client. The case was well beyond the statute of limitations, and the evidence had been destroyed.
Iowa Supreme Court holds that when law enforcement executes a search warrant at a home, law enforcement agents may not search the purse of a person who is present on the premises as a visitor but not named in the search warrant.
Although he received his second OWI while the first was still pending, a plea agreement was reached wherein my client was able to plead guilty to simple misdemeanor public intoxication instead of OWI on the second charge, given that the defense was partially successful with a motion to suppress and the remaining evidence was not definitive.
My client’s charge of domestic abuse assault causing injury has been dismissed. Following depositions of the primary complaining witness and the officer, the State agreed that the case could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and agreed to dismiss the charge.
Iowa Supreme Court rules that an officer did not have probable cause or reasonable suspicion to stop a motorist’s vehicle when it was on a county access road after hours. Iowa Code Section 461A.46, requiring all persons to vacate state parks and preserves before 10:30 p.m., only applies to state parks and preserves, not county conservation property. Iowa Code section 350.5 is applicable to county parks, but it requires that any regulations be posted near each gate or principal entrance. In this case, the required posting was not done, or was not proven. Hence, without the conservation board properly posting the closing time, the officer did not have probable cause or reasonable suspicion to stop the Defendant, and therefore all evidence discovered as a result of the stop had to be suppressed. Further, mistake of law is an insufficient basis to justify a stop.
Client charged with serious misdemeanor driving while revoked and serious misdemeanor possession of drugs/controlled substances, and facing probation revocation proceedings in another case, obtains a plea deal for simple misdemeanor driving without a valid license for a fine, and simple misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia for a fine, with dismissal of the probation revocation proceedings.
Iowa Court of Appeals confirms that an officer may not extend the length of a traffic stop to conduct a drug dog sniff without independent reasonable suspicion justifying the continued detention beyond the purpose of the traffic stop, and doing so requires suppression of the evidence obtained as a result of the constitutional violation.