Longtime Polk County Attorney John Sarcone is retiring after three decades on the job. Now an assistant county attorney and a defense attorney are jumping into the race to replace him.
Judge dismisses felony leak charge against Iowa activist
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Several times a week
A few times a year
Rarely/never
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A judge dismissed a rarely used felony leak charge Thursday against a Black Lives Matter activist in Iowa who gave a confidential police document to a local television news reporter.
Protester Viet Tran did not break the law when he shared a Des Moines Police Department bulletin during an interview broadcast on WOI-TV, an ABC affiliate, Judge Jeffrey Farrell found.
Tran had been charged last summer with unauthorized dissemination of intelligence data, a felony that carries up to five years in prison. The decades-old law, intended to stop law enforcement officials from releasing certain sensitive information, had only been used a handful of times and never in a non-police context.
Charges dropped against DMPD officer arrested in Altoona Share Updated: 5:11 PM CDT May 12, 2021
Charges dropped against DMPD officer arrested in Altoona Share Updated: 5:11 PM CDT May 12, 2021
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Show Transcript STEVE: ALSO NEW TONIGHT. THE CHARGES AGAINST A DES MOINES POLICE OFFICER FOR AN INCIDENT AT THE SOUTHEAST POLK SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN DROPPED. WE FIRST TOLD YOU ABOUT OFFICER RODNEY BRIGGS IN FEBRUARY. HE WAS ACCUSED OF USING HIS POSITION AS A POLICE OFFICER TO TRY TO GET VIDEO EVIDENCE IN AN ALTOONA INVESTIGATION INVOLVING HIS GIRLFRIEND. BUT ACCORDING TO NEW COURT DOCUMENTS, WITNESSES TESTIFIED THAT BRIGGS DID NOT USE HIS AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE THEM TO GIVE HIM THE EVIDENCE. PROSECUTORS ASKED THE COURT TO DISMISS THE CASE. BRIGGS WAS PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE IN FEBRUARY AS THE DES MOINES POLICE LAUNCHED AN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION. POLICE CONFIRMED TONIGHT THEIR INVESTIGATION IS STILL ONGOI