Judiciary

Iowa gay marriage decision may hinge on legal standard

“Once you decide the standard, the outcome may be controlled by that standard,” said Mark McCormick, a Des Moines attorney who served on the Iowa Supreme Court from 1972 to 1986.

Agriprocessors could face extinction

Agriprocessors, the failing giant of the kosher food industry with many operations headquartered in Postville, is beginning to disintegrate.

Regulators and creditors want Agriprocessors bankruptcy moved to Iowa

Iowa Secretary of Labor has joined private sector creditors and other government agencies in seeking to move bankruptcy proceedings for Agriprocessors, the beleauguered kosher meatpacking firm, from New York to Iowa, but the company is seeking to delay court deliberations about where the chapter 11 bankruptcy case should be heard.

U.S. Supreme Court denies petition of Iowa woman on death row

A petition requesting the U.S. Supreme Court review the convictions and sentences of an Iowa woman in connection with five 1993 drug-related murders has been denied by the nation’s highest court.

Agriprocessors bankruptcy update

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Postville meatpacking plant Agriprocessors is slowly making its way through the New York courts. Creditors, primarily located in the Midwest, have filed motions with the court to move the proceedings from the east coast to Iowa, but the court is not expected to make a ruling on that motion [...]

Anfinson relative: ‘This has been a long road’

An Iowa Supreme Court decision released Friday has a very personal significance for Iowa resident Bob Krause. He is a brother-in-law of Heidi Anfinson, a Des Moines woman convicted of second-degree murder in the drowning death of her infant son who received court approval for a new trial. Because of Heidi and the loss of his nephew Jacob, Krause has been doing his part to educate the public on the dangers of postpartum depression.

Supreme Court: Postpartum depression should have been presented in murder trial

An Iowa Supreme Court decision handed down today confirms that legal counsel for Heidi Anfinson was ineffective for not presenting evidence and investigating Anfinson’s claims of postpartum depression.

Agriprocessors supervisor enters guilty plea

A former supervisor at Agriprocessors, the Postville meatpacking plant that was the location of the nation’s largest single-site immigration raid, accepted a deal and pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday afternoon.

Agriprocessors Supervisors: ‘Not Guilty’

Two supervisors charged with encouraging workers to obtain and use fraudulent documents in order to continue employment at Agriprocessors in Postville pleaded “not guilty” in federal court.

Iowa Blogger Pleads Guilty to Secretly Photographing Woman’s Breasts

An Iowa blogger who claimed to use activism and education to promote “a more just and life-affirming culture of sexuality” for women, especially those women who have been victims of sexual violence, has pleaded guilty to photographing and filming a college student’s breasts without her consent.
Kyle D. Payne, 22 of Ida Grove, presented his guilty [...]