State of Iowa, Appellee v. Kelvin Plain Sr., Appellant

Summary

The court conditionally affirmed Plain's harassment conviction but remanded for development of the record on whether African-Americans were systematically underrepresented in the jury pool. It held that absolute disparity may not be used exclusively to assess fair-cross-section claims and that Plain was entitled to reasonable access to historical jury-selection records. The court found no prejudicial reversible error in the hearsay admission, denial of a mistrial, denial of an implicit-bias instruction, or prosecutor's repeated use of "victim," although it identified legal error in the latter two areas. Justice Wiggins and Justice Appel, concurring, would have required an implicit-bias instruction in appropriate cases; Justice Waterman and Justice Mansfield disagreed with the majority's treatment of the prosecutor's use of "victim."