Judicial Branch v. Dist. Court for Linn County
Annotate this CaseAfter the district court dismissed criminal charges against J.W., J.W. filed a motion to expunge any information pertaining to the dismissed charges pursuant to Iowa Code 692.17, specifically requesting that the information be removed from the Iowa Court Information System (ICIS), including the website Iowa Courts Online, and the computer data storage systems for the county sheriff, city police, state division of criminal investigation, and the FBI. The district court granted J.W.'s request. The attorney general petitioned for a writ of certiorari, which the Supreme Court granted. The Court sustained the writ, holding that (1) Section 692.17(1) does not require criminal cases that ended in dismissal or acquittal to be removed from ICIS or the website Iowa Court Online; and (2) making dismissed criminal case information available to the public, while withholding public access to deferred judgments, does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Iowa Constitution.
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