Thursday, September 11, 2014

Iowa Supreme Court Justice Visiting Regina

Justice Mansfield will be visiting Ms. Mehegan's Government class tomorrow at 9:00. Justice Mansfield will speak to the students about “Checks and Balances in the Judiciary” and then answer questions.

Justice Mansfield was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2011. Justice Mansfield was born and raised in Massachusetts. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1978, and his law degree from Yale in 1982. After law school he clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. Justice Mansfield worked as an attorney in private practice until his appointment to the Iowa Court of Appeals in 2009. Justice Mansfield also has been an adjunct professor of law at Drake University since 1997.  

Justice Mansfield is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association, having served as Chair of the Trade Regulation Section from 2004-2006. He is a member of the Polk County Bar Association and the Iowa Judges Association. Justice Mansfield also serves on the board of directors of Goodwill Industries of Central Iowa, and is a past Chairperson of this organization.

On Thursday, September 11, the Iowa Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Iowa City (two cases, information below). The proceeding will take place in the West High School auditorium. The session will begin at 7 p.m. As always, oral arguments are open to the public. This is a unique opportunity for Iowa City area students and parents to see the Supreme Court at work and to meet the justices.  Please encourage your students and fellow teachers to attend the oral arguments. The session will begin with a brief explanation of the appellate process followed by a summary of the cases and oral arguments. A public reception with the justices will follow the oral arguments in the theater lobby. 

State of Iowa v. Zachariah J. Rogerson, No. 13-1329, from Dubuque County
The defendant is charged with four counts of serious injury by operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Rogerson was granted discretionary review from the district court's order allowing some of the state's witnesses (the victims who reside out of state and witnesses from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Criminalistics Laboratory) to testify at trial using the Iowa Communications Network (ICN). Rogerson argues it would violate his rights under the Confrontation Clauses of the United States and Iowa Constitutions to allow the state's witnesses to testify from outside of the courtroom via the ICN network when the state did not present any evidence of the necessity to allow remote testimony.

State of Iowa v. Yvette Marie Louisell, Case Number 14-0175, from Story County
The state appeals from the resentencing of Louisell who was convicted of murder in the first degree in 1988 for an offense she committed at seventeen years of age. The state argues the principles of cruel and unusual punishment allow a district court to strike down an unconstitutional sentence, but do not authorize it to create a determinate sentence. The district court imposed a 25-year sentence that, in light of Louisell's credit for time served, would result in her immediate release from prison. The district court's resentencing order was stayed pending the resolution of the state's appeal.  

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