State v. Iowa District Court for Iowa County

WOLLE, Justice.

In this original certiorari proceeding, we must decide whether the district court erred in requiring the State to produce a criminal investigation file for inspection by certain civil litigants. The State contends its file is protected by a qualified governmental privilege. Balancing the State’s interest in confidentiality against the private litigants’ interest in exhaustive discovery, we conclude that the circumstances here weigh heavily in the State’s favor. We therefore sustain the writ of certiorari, holding that the State need not disclose the contents of its file.

The…