It Doesn't Count In Iowa

 In State v. Middlekauf, no. 21-0664 (May 27, 2022) an out of state traveler from Arizona was stopped for speeding and the smell of marijuana was encountered.

Pamela Middlekauf admitted to the officer that she had marijuana in her car and handed it over, but was sent on her way as she did not seem impaired. Later she was charged by trial information with possession of marijuana in violation of Iowa Code ch. 124.401(5) and convictedof a serious misdemeanor.

Middlekauf appealed, arguing that her Arizona issued medical marijuana registry card and certification constituted a prescription and thus an affirmative defense under 124.401(5).

The Court affirmed her conviction, stating that the documents did not constitute a valid prescription under Iowa law and precedent, and in fact as a schedule 1 controlled substance marijuana cannot be prescribed in Iowa.

You're Old Enough

 Ed. Note. I'll be working my way backwards through the backlog here at least until I get to the trash diving case. Stay tuned.

State v. Dorsey (19-1917) and State v. Sandoval (20-0396) were handed down on June 10, 2022, and they both present the same argument for the extension of Miller v. Alabama (567 U.S. 465) 2012 in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that sentencing a juvenile below the age of 18 to a sentence of life without parole was cruel and unusual punishment.

Both defendants argued that the Iowa Constitution, Art. 1 section 17 and emerging science on the subject of the development of the juvenile brain militates for a review of the subject at least to the extent of providing meaningful possibilities of rehabilitation and the possibility of parole. To do otherwise, they argue, is cruel and unusual punishment.

Dorsey was 18 years and five days old when he committed a homicide in Des Moines 38 years ago, and Sandoval was 19 at the time he killed two people.

The Iowa Supreme Court disagreed, holding that the sentences each received were not grossly disproportionate.