STATE v. BURNS

No. 20-1150.

988 N.W.2d 352 (2023)

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Jerry Lynn BURNS, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Filed March 31, 2023.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Nicholas Curran (argued) and Kathleen T. Zellner of Kathleen T. Zellner & Associates, PC, Downers Grove, Illinois, and Elizabeth A. Araguás of Nidey Erdahl Meier & Araguás, PLC, Cedar Rapids, for appellant.

Brenna Bird , Attorney General, and Tyler J. Buller (argued) (until withdrawal) and Bridget Chambers , Assistant Attorneys General, for appellee.

Nathan Freed Wessler (argued), Vera Eidelman , and Patrick Toomey of American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, New York, for amicus curiae American Civil Liberties Union.

Rita Bettis Austen of ACLU of Iowa Foundation Inc., Des Moines, for amicus curiae ACLU of Iowa Foundation, Inc.

Jennifer Lynch of Electronic Frontier Foundation, San Francisco, California, for amicus curiae Electronic Frontier Foundation.

May, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Christensen, C.J., and Waterman, Mansfield, and McDonald, JJ., joined. McDonald, J., filed a concurring opinion. Oxley, J., filed a dissenting opinion. McDermott, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Oxley, J., joined except as to part I.B.


Someone murdered Michelle Martinko on the night of December 19, 1979. Cedar Rapids police found Martinko's body in her car. Police collected what evidence they could, including her bloodstained dress. But police could not find Martinko's killer.

Decades passed. Technology developed. Police used advances in DNA technology and...

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