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Welcome to Iowa Public Defender.com |
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We are a group of criminal defense attorneys who have banded together to share knowledge, experience, stories, research, helpful tools, forms, briefs and insightful analysis of current Iowa criminal law issues. Our goal is to improve the practice of criminal law in Iowa. Please register (left) with this website. You will not receive any annoying emails or ads; we simply request registration so we can monitor the website's activity and adjust the content to meet the needs of the practioner. By registering, you will be allowed to explore the entire website. Guests have a limited view of the site's contents. Everyone is welcome to register. Thank you and feel free to contact us if you have any materials that you believe are suited for dissemination. This website is not affiliated with the Iowa State Public Defender Office. The information contained in this website is not guaranteed to be reliable or accurate. |
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Judge Amanda Potterfield to the Iowa Court of Appeals! |
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DES MOINES – Today, Governor Chet Culver named Sixth District Court Judge Amanda Potterfield of Tiffin to the Iowa Court of Appeals. Judge Amanda Potterfield is currently serving as a judge in Iowa’s Sixth District. She received her undergraduate degree from Hollins College (Virginia) in 1969, and her law degree, with honors, from George Washington University National Law Center in 1974. After law school she was partner with the firm of Farmer, Fanning & Potterfield and staff attorney at the Georgia Criminal Justice Council in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1976, she volunteered as an attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, New York. From 1976 – 1980 she served Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York as staff attorney and assistant director. From 1980 – 1981 she worked in Bangkok, Thailand as Director of Tracing for Unaccompanied Kampuchean Minors for the International Rescue Committee and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. From 1981 – 1982 she lived in New York, New York, working at the New York Public Interest Research Group, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Law Offices of Amanda Potterfield. In 1983, she moved to Iowa and began serving as an Assistant Public Defender in Linn County, where she remained until 1989. From 1988 to 1992, she taught Trial Advocacy as an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa, College of Law. In 1989, she became a partner at the Cedar Rapids firm of Johnston, Potterfield & Nathanson, where she remained until 2001. In 2001, she was appointed District Judge by Governor Vilsack for Iowa’s Sixth District, where she currently serves. The vacancy was created by Governor Culver’s appointment of Judge David Baker to the Iowa Supreme Court. From the Office of the Governor & Lt. Governor. Congrats to Judge Potterfield. She will be missed at the District Court level. |
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Farewell to Dick Klausner |
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Richard E. Klausner formally retired from his post as the Chief Public Defender for Johnson County June 27, 2008. Dick first worked in the Linn County Public Defender Office, and continued there after that office was incorporated into the State Public Defender system. Dick then opened the Iowa City Public Defender office in 1991. Dick is a well-respected trial lawyer and administrator. He oversaw the establishment of the Muscatine Public Defender office, which was achieved in a very short time in response to an indigent defense crisis in Muscatine County. He is known for his rapport with his clients and well known in the community, having served on a number of boards. Dick will be missed by all court personnel in Johnson County. A party is scheduled for today, June 27, 2008 at the Mill Restaurant, Iowa City, from 5 to 8 p.m. Dick giving a speech at his retirement party
Steve Exley-Schuman and Tyler Johnston sing a Tribute to Dick John Logan pays tribute to Dick Hon. Judge Grady pays tribute to Dick
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Supremes Reject Death Penalty For Child Rape |
By Mark Sherman, APThe Supreme Court on Wednesday outlawed executions of people convicted of raping a child. In a 5-4 vote, the court said the Louisiana law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in such cases violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. "The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion. His four liberal colleagues joined him, while the four more conservative justices dissented. There has not been an execution in the United States for a crime that did not also involve the death of the victim in 44 years. Patrick Kennedy, 43, was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter in Louisiana. He is one of two people in the United States, both in Louisiana, who have been condemned to death for a rape that was not also accompanied by a killing. The Supreme Court banned executions for rape in 1977 in a case in which the victim was an adult woman. |
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Court: NSA Can Refuse to Say if Lawyers Wiretapped |
The National Security Agency does not need to tell lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees whether their phones were tapped as part of the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
The NSA has refused to say whether it listened in on the conversations of the lawyers who are advising detainees being held at the U.S. naval facility in Cuba. The NSA says even confirming the existence of such wiretaps would jeopardize national security.
A federal judge in New York agreed, saying the super-secret agency can't be forced to disclose information about the program.
"Confirming or denying whether plaintiffs' communication with their clients has been intercepted would reveal information about the NSA's capabilities and activities," U.S. District Judge Denise Cote wrote.
President Bush acknowledged in 2005 that, for years following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the NSA intercepted international phone conversations and e-mails involving U.S. citizens. The program did not require warrants and operated without oversight from the nation's spy court, which normally approves wiretaps of suspected terrorists and spies.
Since lawyers don't know whether their phones are tapped, some have avoided international phone calls and e-mails with clients and family members, said Shayana Kadidal, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights.
When calls must be made, "It means we begin conversations with, 'We can't be certain the government isn't listening in on this call,'" Kadidal said.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the lawyers demanded to know whether their calls were intercepted. The NSA refused to confirm or deny the existence of such records. Such a response is allowed when acknowledging the mere existence of a document would compromise intelligence operations. |
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We are interested in any forms, rulings, instructions, motions or relevant stories you may have and wish to share - regardless of your jurisdiction. We are also interested in anyone who wants to write articles. Sharing is good.
Incarceration Clock
Poems From Guantanamo
Published by the University of Iowa Press
__________________________ Some of us are riding this year. If anyone else is riding and wants to email us, we will compile an email list to share. Click on the contact us button on your left.
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