Linn County attorney pitches cloud evidence storage, staff hires and new criminal-law proposals

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks told the board his office is pursuing a cloud-based digital evidence management system (referred to as iCrimeFighter) to consolidate evidence storage, integrate with existing prosecutor case-management tools and reduce an external portal cost currently about $5,000 a year. Maybanks said the proposed product is roughly $14 per case with a terabyte costing about $250 a year.

Maybanks also announced the addition of two assistant county attorneys, Ellie Weilbrenner and Jonathan Melvin, and said the office helped secure a two-year extension for Iowa Legal Aid’s expungement clinic in Linn County.

On legislation, Maybanks said he and county prosecutors discussed priorities at the Iowa County Attorneys Association meeting, including a doxing/harassment bill that has advanced in the Senate and proposals to: revise the intimidation-with-a-dangerous-weapon statute so discharging a weapon into occupied places is a Class C felony, and reintroduce a bill that would criminalize certain groping offenses after the version filed last year failed in the Iowa House. Maybanks said these proposals aim to close perceived loopholes and increase prosecutors’ ability to pursue certain cases.

Maybanks also reported caseload changes: felony prosecutor caseloads have fallen from around 130–140 per year to about 100 after creation of a felony-prosecutor position; a rehabilitation prosecutor, Catherine Shimkat, has a caseload of about 140; and indictable-misdemeanor attorneys average roughly 300 cases.

He publicly recognized office manager Gail Kaiser, who is resigning after 17 years to join ISAC, and thanked her for work on records modernization.