Protecting Your Rights Throughout Eastern Iowa Since 1981
The FBI is currently in the process of assembling a very large drug prosecution, and with the most recent set of indictments filed in Cedar Rapids, the number of individuals charged in Operation Ice Pirates has risen to 20. The investigation into the alleged meth ring...
With the signing of a bill by Iowa's governor, changes in the state's drug sentencing laws will go into effect on July 1 for some non-violent drug offenders. The bill is seen by many as a good start to returning a more reasonable perspective on criminal enforcement of...
Illegal drugs are pervasive in our society. Sometimes they come up in contexts that are unexpected. In Davenport, an alderman was shocked to find a man who lived in his home was recently arrested for allegedly dealing methamphetamine. The alderman was not accused of...
An Iowa paper reports that the leading cause of arrests in the county immediately south of Des Moines is drugs. They identify drugs or alcohol as the reason for 22 of 29 arrests in the county. The police chief of Carlisle reported that almost one-third of all of the...
People from all over the world come to Iowa to attend school. Whether they go to a large university or small college, the fact is that young students experience some considerable challenges when they are away from home. In addition to the stress and anxiety of...
Drugs like heroin are causing an epidemic of deaths throughout the U.S., and some states have enacted laws that make it easier to prevent these overdose deaths by making antidotes like naloxone available while protecting those who help from the severe penalties...
In recent years, there has been much discussion regarding the effect of mandatory minimum prison sentences. The use of mandatory minimums have been one of the reasons the number of inmates in federal prisons has exploded, from 24,000 in 1980 to the current population...
From time to time, politicians will argue that government is inefficient and to improve things, it needs to be run like a business. For the most part this is marketing puffery, as the role of government and business are very different and adopting practice and...
Last time we were looking at the issue of civil forfeiture in Iowa, and how it is apparent that some cases appear to involve what amounts to theft by law enforcement officers across the state. Civil forfeiture allows law enforcement to take money or other assets from...
The Iowa Supreme Court is considering arguments in a case of civil forfeiture, involving a traffic stop on I-80, where an Iowa State Patrol trooper seized $33,100 in cash and a small amount of marijuana. The driver was charged, but acquitted, of marijuana possession,...
