Marshall v. State

In these cross-petitions for writ of certio-rari, the State challenges the district court’s rejection of the “some evidence” standard applicable in prison disciplinary actions, and the inmate contests the court’s willingness to uphold a prison policy of not informing inmates when requested witnesses have refused to testify. For reasons that follow, we sustain the State’s writ and annul the prisoner’s.

In December 1991, Thomas Marshall and several other inmates were observed fighting in an exercise pen at the Iowa Men’s Reformatory. Marshall was injured in the fracas. Prison disciplinary…