Lang
4/15/24
Wapello County’s former prosecutor avoided a proposed license suspension Friday as the Iowa Supreme Court opted to issue him a public reprimand for calling judges “bitches” and making sexually charged comments to his staff.
Iowa Starting Line reports the court concluded that while Reuben Neff’s crude comments as county attorney had no legitimate place in a legal setting, his words did not rise to the level of sexual harassment of clients or sexual advances toward employees.
The case originated from disciplinary charges the Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board filed against Neff in August 2022.
The board alleged Neff often made disparaging comments about judges and magistrates with whom he disagreed and referred to female magistrates as “bitches.”
In 2019, while conversing with his staff, he allegedly referred to District Court Judge Shawn Showers as a “limp d—-” after Showers presided over a criminal trial in which the defendant was acquitted.
He also was alleged to have told colleagues about a call he received from someone about his predecessor as county attorney, repeating the caller’s description of the previous county attorney by using a derogatory epithet typically aimed at gay men.
Neff also was alleged to have told employees at the county attorney’s office about a private, sexual encounter he once had with a woman and provided “graphic details” about the encounter.
Neff also was accused of telling the two women of an incident in college that involved a male classmate’s penis falling out of the pajama pants the classmate had worn to class that day.
Neff also is alleged to have made sexual comments about criminal defendants his office was prosecuting, and once signaled to his employees that a defendant was likely to be sodomized in prison by forming a circular shape with his hands and stating the man’s “a-hole” would be “this big” by the time he left prison.
On another occasion, Neff allegedly told his employees he wished a newly acquitted criminal defendant would be “raped by antelopes and mauled by lions at the same time.” He also is alleged to have told an employee that the opposing counsel in a case headed for trial should “lube up” and “grab his ankles.”
In his response to the charges, Neff argued the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers infringed on his First Amendment right of free speech. The matter then went before the Grievance Commission of the Iowa Supreme Court, which recommended that Neff’s license be suspended for 60 days and that the court order Neff and his staff to attend sexual harassment training. The Attorney Disciplinary Board had recommended a 30-day suspension.
Neff is a Republican who was elected to serve as the Wapello County attorney in 2018 and 2022. He resigned last month to take a job in private practice, at which point the county board appointed Neff’s first assistant, Steviee Grove, to serve as county attorney.