Iowa
Iowa law on police appeals ‘constitutionally vacuous,’ prosecutor says
The Iowa Supreme Court’s 2025-2026 docket is filled with key cases
Iowa’s top court has a busy schedule as it launches into a new term this fall, delving into cases involving subjects including bullying and TikTok.
A feud between two Jefferson County officials has landed before the Iowa Supreme Court, which must decide if a 2024 addition to Iowa’s Rights of Peace Officers law is unconstitutional.
Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding is asking the state’s high court to overturn what he calls the “constitutionally vacuous” law, which allows officers to petition the courts to be removed from their county’s Brady-Giglio list.
Named for two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the lists compiled by prosecutors identify law enforcement officers and others whose credibility is in question, and it can provide grounds for questioning their testimony in court.
After a dispute over a case involving a sheriff’s deputy’s use of force, Moulding in 2024 notified Jefferson County Sheriff Bart Richmond he was placing him on the Brady-Giglio list. Richmond petitioned a court to reverse Moulding’s decision, and a district judge did, finding Richmond’s actions in connection with the case, while unprofessional, did not bring his honesty or credibility into question.
In his appeal, Moulding argues that’s not up to the court to decide, and that the law lets judges improperly intrude on prosecutors’ professional judgment and, ultimately, defendants’ rights.
“The practical real application of (the 2024 law) is to create a Kafkaesque scenario where a criminal defendant could face the prospect of criminal charges involving a State witness who is so lacking in credibility that the State’s attorney has qualms about even calling him to testify, but is prevented from disclosure,” Moulding wrote. “Such a situation is unconscionable, and underlines the constitutional vacuousness of the statute itself.”
The court has not yet scheduled arguments for the case, which could have impacts far beyond Jefferson County. Attorney Charles Gribble, representing Richmond, said this is just one of three Iowa Brady-Giglio appeals he personally is involved in.
What is a Brady-Giglio list?
Under the Fifth Amendment, criminal defendants are entitled to due process of law. In Brady v. Maryland in 1963 and in subsequent cases the U.S. Supreme Court held that due process requires a prosecutor to disclose any known exculpatory evidence to the defense. That includes anything giving rise to doubts about the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, including law enforcement officers.
In 2022, Iowa formalized that process by mandating prosecuting agencies maintain a Brady-Giglio list of officers whose credibility can be questioned due to past dishonesty or other misconduct. The law requires agencies to notify officers when they are being put on a list and allows them to seek reconsideration.
Being placed on a list can damage or destroy an officer’s career, as prosecutors generally will decline to call them as witnesses or to bring charges that would depend on their testimony.
2024 law gives courts a role in Brady-Giglio lists
Iowa’s 2024 law went beyond requiring officers be notified of their placement on a Brady-Giglio list by giving them the right to appeal to a district court if their prosecuting agency refuses to take them off a list. The law requires judges to confidentially review evidence and allows them to affirm, modify or reverse an officer’s Brady-Giglio listing “as justice may require.”
In less than two years, courts have reversed local prosecutors on several Brady-Giglio placements, including a messy Henry County dispute in which prosecutors accused a sheriff’s deputy of making misleading statements on a search warrant application.
What happened in Jefferson County?
The lawsuit before the Iowa Supreme Court involves an April 2024 traffic stop by a Jefferson County deputy. As laid out in a subsequent memo by Moulding, video recordings show the deputy handling the driver roughly and, when the man complains, telling him “I can do whatever I want” and, “You’re not going to tell me what I can and can’t do. … You’re going to learn what respect is, young man.”
After learning about the incident, Moulding wrote, he repeatedly emailed Richmond, asking if the deputy’s actions had violated any county policies. Richmond did not respond. Concerned about possible litigation against the county, Moulding then asked another county to conduct an investigation. While the details are disputed, Moulding accuses Richmond of stonewalling both his office and the outside investigators and instructing his subordinates also not to cooperate.
“A county sheriff ordering deputies not to cooperate with an inquiry into a deputy’s use of force represents a fundamental lapse in judgment and raised serious concerns regarding the Sheriff’s honesty, candor and ethics as a law enforcement official,” Moulding wrote.
He scheduled a meeting that Richmond did not attend and then placed him on the county’s Brady-Giglio list. In an emailed statement, Moulding called the entire matter “unfortunate.”
“Frankly, I am shocked that instead of attempting to address this matter with my office cooperatively, the Sheriff instead decided to stonewall an investigation, stonewall the Brady-Giglio investigation, and then take this matter to court instead of sitting down and addressing the matter like an adult and an elected official,” he said.
In a letter, Moulding warned Richmond that he would no longer be called as a law enforcement witness and advised him to limit his involvement with criminal investigations, as “your engagement in such activities could likely negatively impact the outcomes in court.”
Judge disagrees with sheriff’s placement on list
After Moulding denied Richmond’s request for reconsideration, Richmond filed suit. In February 2025, Judge Jeffrey Farrell ruled Richmond should be removed from the list.
Farrell’s order criticized both parties, finding that Moulding had failed to comply with some procedural elements of the law but that Richmond could have avoided the whole situation with “basic and professional” responses to Moulding’s emails. Nonetheless, he found Richmond’s actions did not demonstrate dishonesty or deceit that would justify placement on a Brady list.
“This is not a case in which an officer lied to a court, was convicted of a crime, manufactured or destroyed evidence, or committed some other act that would serve as the basis for impeachment in any criminal case,” Farrell wrote. “Game-playing the county attorney is not the standard of professionalism that Iowans expect of our elected county sheriffs,” he added, but does not constitute grounds for a Brady-Giglio listing.
Prosecutor appeals, argues law is unconstitutional
In his appeal, Moulding does not address Farrell’s factual findings, instead asking the court only to decide whether the law is constitutional.
“The most glaring constitutional defect in (the 2024 law) is that it impedes a criminal Defendant’s substantive and procedural due processes of law, and right to a fair trial,” the appeal says. “These fundamental rights constitute the bedrock raisons d’être for the entire body of Brady-Giglio jurisprudence in the first place.”
Iowa appears to be the only state with a law allowing officers to sue to be removed from a Brad-Giglio list, but Moulding cites a recent federal lawsuit where a judge rejected a South Dakota officer’s attempt to get removed from a list, finding the request “in essence, asks this Court to require a State’s Attorney to violate the constitution.” He further argues that the law violates the constitutional separation of powers and is “so poorly drafted as to be unenforceable and void for vagueness.”
Sheriff’s attorney says single lapse of judgment is not grounds for listing
Gribble, Richmond’s attorney, argued in his Supreme Court brief that the law is constitutional and that the sheriff’s actions fall well short of Brady-Giglio standards.
“Under (the 2024 law), placement on the Brady-Giglio list results not from a single lapse of judgment but rather from repeated, sustained, intentional and egregious acts over a period of time,” he wrote. “Thus, while a singular act of bad judgement may undermine a police officer’s credibility in a particular case, placement on the Brady-Giglio list places a permanent and unreviewable scarlet letter on the officer that he/she is unlikely to be able to ever overcome.”
He also suggests that a court order removing an officer from a list “does not in any way alter the prosecuting attorney’s duty to provide exculpatory evidence in all cases.” In an interview, he argued there should be a legal distinction between prosecutors disclosing concerns about an officer’s conduct in the case in which it occurred, and doing so in every future case involving them.
“To me, that’s what Brady-Giglio is for, not for occasional or first-time wrongs, even if established of a police officer, but those that have a history of that sort of thing,” he said.
The Supreme Court has not yet set a date for arguments in the case.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on offense, defense development
Iowa State football coach Jimmy Rogers on how the Cyclones offense and defense is developing.
After securing multiple commitments on the offensive side of the ball, Iowa State football has landed its first defensive commitment in the 2027 recruiting class.
Keaton Wollan, a three-star linebacker out of Amery, Wisconsin, committed to the Cyclones on April 21. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound linebacker announced his decision on social media.
He chose Iowa State over other offers from Texas Tech and North Dakota State. He previously visited Ames in March, but he also took recent visits to Minnesota and Wisconsin.
As a junior at Amery High School, Wollan was a two-way standout and earned all-state honors for the 2025 season. Defensively, he racked up a team-high 125 total tackles, including nine for loss and 1.5 sacks. He also had four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, three interceptions and one defensive touchdown.
Offensively, he had a team-high 932 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 160 carries. He also caught 15 passes for 179 yards, and he was an impact player in the return game, logging more than 500 kick and punt return yards.
According to 247 Sports Composite rankings, Wollan is the No. 93 linebacker prospect in the country and the No. 11 overall recruit in his class from the state of Wisconsin.
Wollan is the sixth player to commit in the Cyclones’ 2027 recruiting class.
Iowa State football 2027 recruiting commitments
As of April 21
- Gavin Ericson-Staton, OL | Lombard, Illinois/Montini Catholic
- Isaiah Hansen, RB | Newton, Iowa/Newton HS
- Koen Hinzman, OL | Hudson, Michigan/Hudson Area HS
- Will Slagle, OL | Grinnell, Iowa/Grinnell HS
- Bryson Thompson, WR | San Antonio, Texas/Claudia Taylor Johnson HS
- Keaton Wollan, LB | Amery, Wisconsin/Amery HS
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
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Prepare for more overnight closures at the northeast mixmaster as the Iowa Department of Transportation closes the ramp connecting westbound Interstate 80 and northbound Interstate 35.
Here’s what to know.
When will the Iowa DOT close the westbound I‑80 to northbound I‑35 ramp?
The westbound I-80 to northbound I-35 ramp will be closed to traffic from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. the next morning from April 21-24.
What’s the detour when the Iowa DOT closes the westbound I‑80 to the northbound I‑35 ramp?
During the closures, drivers wanting to go from westbound I‑80 to northbound I‑35 will follow a signed detour.
Instead of taking the closed ramp, motorists will stay on westbound I‑80, bypassing the northeast mixmaster connection. They’ll then exit at U.S. Highway 69, turn around, and head back east on I‑80, where they can connect to northbound I‑35 using the open portion of the northeast mixmaster.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
An Iowa women’s basketball transfer portal visitor committed to one of the Hawkeyes’ conference foes instead. Former Iowa State guard Kenzie Hare took a visit to Iowa during her transfer portal recruitment, but the 5-foot-9 guard committed to Indiana on Sunday night.
Hare had several visits throughout her transfer portal recruiting process, including trips to Michigan and Illinois State, but the Des Moines Register’s Chad Leistikow reported that Hare also visited Iowa.
On3’s Talia Goodman reported Hare’s commitment to the Hoosiers.
Hare has one year of eligibility remaining. This past season with the Cyclones, in 32 games played and 31 starts, Hare averaged 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game on 40.5% field goal shooting and 40% from 3-point range. A hip injury limited Hare to just 10 games during her first year with the Cyclones in the 2024-25 season.
The soon-to-be redshirt senior transferred to Iowa State before the 2024-25 campaign after spending two seasons at Marquette from 2022-24. Hare averaged a career-best 14 points per game on 45.5% field goal shooting and 42.5% 3-point shooting during the 2023-24 season with the Golden Eagles.
Had Iowa been able to lure the Naperville, Ill., native to Iowa City, Hare would have been another valuable addition to the Hawkeyes’ backcourt depth. But, Iowa has landed other backcourt reinforcements throughout this transfer portal cycle.
The Hawkeyes inked both Dani Carnegie and Amari Whiting.
Carnegie was a first-team All-SEC selection this past season at Georgia, averaging 17.8 points per game on 42.7% field goal shooting, 35.4% from 3-point range and 83.3% from the free-throw line. Whiting averaged 9.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 42.5% field goal shooting, 32.1% 3-point accuracy, and 71.6% free-throw shooting.
As Hare joins a promising core of players in Bloomington, the Hawkeyes will once again face the former Cyclone at least once this upcoming season as part of their Big Ten regular-season slate.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews
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