West Des Moines Iowa Criminal Defense Law Blog

Iowans should never have to choose between saving someone's life or putting themselves in legal jeopardy in the event of a drug overdose. That is the purpose behind the state's Good Samaritan Immunity Law enacted in 2018.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports more than 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2017, more than twice the rate from a decade ago. The Iowa Department of Public Health says, since 2005, opioid overdoses in the state have more than tripled.

In Iowa, like many other places, the legal drinking age is 21. This isn't news to most people, nor would it be a surprise to acknowledge that people under the age of 21 sometimes also consume alcohol -- particularly college students living on their own for the first time.

The state's operating while intoxicated (OWI) laws are different for underage drinkers, however. And for someone not yet 21, it can be much easier to end up running afoul of the law.

Recently, the libertarian Reason magazine called attention to Linn County. The Sheriff's Office there has just purchased a BearCat G2 armored vehicle for $297,061. They apparently got the money for the military vehicle through civil asset forfeiture.

Civil asset forfeiture is where law enforcement seizes property deemed to have a connection to criminal activity. This is often done before the owner has been found guilty of any crime. It's possible to get the property back, but only by proving to a court that it had no connection to crime. Not only is that quite difficult to do, but also many defendants don't have the time or money to do so. Law enforcement gets to keep the property if the defendant fails to challenge its status successfully.

The American Bar Association's (ABA's) House of Delegates and the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys (NACDL) have just passed a unanimous resolution urging Congress to fully fund the federal First Step Act and to make it retroactive.

As we've discussed before on this blog, the bi-partisan First Step Act was signed into law last year and makes a number of reforms to the federal criminal justice and prison systems, such as:

• Reducing unjust disparities in crack vs. powder cocaine sentencing and making them retroactive
• Increasing judicial discretion in mandatory sentencing
• Changing the penalty for "three strikes" from life in prison to 25 years
• Requiring the Federal Bureau of Prisons to comply with certain civil rights orders
• Expanding the use of "good time" credits that can reduce prisoners' sentences