Criminal Defense

The clinic's student legal interns represent criminal defendants charged with serious and aggravated misdemeanors including such offenses as operating while intoxicated, possession of controlled substances, theft and assault. In one recent case, the clinic defended an individual charged with third-degree theft—an aggravated misdemeanor carrying a potential sentence of two years in prison. The interns, with faculty supervision, were responsible for litigating the entire case; they conducted a suppression hearing and a two-day jury trial with expert medical testimony. The trial ended in a hung jury, but the students were successful in having the retrial proceedings dismissed on speedy trial grounds. Most of the legal work on misdemeanor cases such as this example is done at the trial level, but interns have had the opportunity to do some appellate work in the past such as arguing a OWI appeal before the Iowa Supreme Court.