Stories

While answering viewer questions on C-SPAN this morning, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley acknowledged that he has not made up his mind regarding U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
“I have voted for 11 different people either on or previously on the Supreme Court,” Grassley said. “Only one of those 11 was not confirmed. I’m not sure [...]

An examination of the state’s HIV transmission law and related court cases by the Iowa Independent has found that certain provisions may have unintended consequences, for instance, that despite its name, actual transmission of the virus is not required for a person to be subject to prosecution under it.

The announcement today of the upcoming retirement of an Iowa appellate court judge means that Gov. Chet Culver will soon have opportunity to appoint another member of the state’s judiciary branch.
Judge John C. Miller, 66, plans to retire July 23. He was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals in 1999 by then-Gov. Tom Vilsack.

Just one week ago a 39-year-old Glenwood man entered a guilty plea in federal court to child pornography charges. The man, Christopher Handley, unlike others who have faced similar charges, did not e-mail or transfer nude photos of himself to a minor, nor did he engage in viewing online child pornography videos or pictures. His [...]

In a unanimous decision issued today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that many of the convictions and sentences given to immigrant detainees from the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant in Postville were in error.
According to the ruling, federal prosecutors have inappropriately used aggravated identity theft laws to prosecute undocumented workers. The decision directly impacts Iowa since of [...]

A federal corruption case against former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had little chance of moving forward, according to U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, due to shenanigans by prosecutors under the direction of the Bush administration.
“I think this [situation] says a lot about how bad the Justice Department got under President [George W.] Bush,” Harkin said [...]

Research conducted by an Iowa State University professor challenges a long-established Supreme Court ruling that permits eyewitness identifications that are obtained through “suggestive” law enforcement procedures.
“Of the 224 people in the United States who have been wrongfully convicted by juries of committing a crime, about 77 percent — or 172 of them — were cases [...]

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

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.