Dep't of Pub. Safety v. Dist. Court for Polk County
Annotate this CaseAfter the district court dismissed a criminal charge against C.R., C.R. filed an application to expunge the dismissed charge pursuant to Iowa Code 692.17. The district court granted the request and held (1) judicial review from the administrative process afforded by Section 692.5 was not the exclusive remedy for a person seeking deletion of records from the Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Investigation (DPS) computer system, and (2) electronic docket entries on the Iowa Courts Information System (ICIS) and the website Iowa Courts Online relating to C.R.'s dismissed case were covered by the statute. The Supreme Court granted the attorney general's petition for writ of certiorari. The Court sustained the writ and vacated the district court's order, finding that the district court acted without jurisdiction in reviving a dismissed criminal case for the purpose of ordering a nonparty such as DPS to delete records. The Court concluded that Section 692.5 provides the exclusive administrative remedy for a person such as C.R. seeking removal of criminal history data from DPS files, and it is not appropriate to bring a direct civil action or to use a prior criminal case for that purpose.
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