Hunter
7/1/19
The Iowa City Press Citizen reports that the state’s Supreme Court is allowing a lawsuit against the Iowa City police to continue.
The case involves the 2013 incident involving Josh Venckus, who was accused of raping a woman at his Iowa City residence, although he had proof that he was away the weekend of the assault.
Venckus filed suit in 2018 against Johnson County, the City, and a detective involved in the investigation.
Lawyers appealed to the state’s Supreme Court to prevent the case from going to trial, citing absolute immunity. On Friday, the court ruled that absolute immunity does apply to claims against prosecutors, but not police. One exception involves an ethics complaint alleging that the Johnson County Attorney’s office filed an ethics complaint against Venkus’ lawyer in an alleged attempt to bully him.
Venkus was implicated in the rape after sperm found in the woman’s cervix matched his DNA. Housemates told authorities Venckus was in Chicago with family at the time, and an expert said the DNA might have come from the blanket the woman slept on that happened to belong to Venckus.
Venckus lost his University of Iowa student status, an internship and other job possibilities as a result of the charges. He was acquitted in 2016.