Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is asking lawmakers to approve language for a constitutional amendment she said will ensure children don’t have to face their alleged abusers when testifying against them in court.
Bird said the constitutional amendment would restore the ability for some children and people with intellectual disabilities to testify at a trial through a one-way video feed from a separate room. This practice, which has been in state law since 1998, was overturned this year by an Iowa Supreme Court decision.
“Unless something changes, we will see fewer prosecutions of crimes against children, particularly those that are brutal...,” Bird said. “Kids will be too scared to testify, and those cases will get dropped. Criminals will walk free.”
A 4-3 Iowa Supreme Court opinion issued in June said that a man convicted of child endangerment and abuse for beating a 2-year-old child could have a new trial because his right to confront witnesses was violated when two kids testified by one-way video from a separate room. The kids could not see the defendant while they testified, but the defendant and jury could see them.
No child should be forced to be stared down by the person who hurt them in court.Attorney General Brenna Bird
Bird said the ruling removed the option for kids and some other vulnerable witnesses to testify remotely. She said that makes Iowa the only state in the country to require child victims to be in the courtroom while testifying, where they could be seated just 6 to 10 feet away from their alleged abusers.
“No child should be forced to be stared down by the person who hurt them in court,” she said.
Bird said the constitutional amendment would restore the prior law, which allowed one-way video testimony if a therapist testified that the witness could not testify without that accommodation.
Supporters of the constitutional amendment joined Bird for a news conference Thursday.
Brittany Sowder, a survivor of human trafficking, said she didn’t testify against her trafficker when she was a teenager because she was “paralyzed with fear at the thought of being in the same room as him.”
“I know how important this amendment is because I’ve lived the alternative,” she said. “I didn’t testify because the system felt too unsafe for me to do so. How many more survivors will feel the same way?”
Sowder said criminals will walk free if the most vulnerable survivors aren’t given the option to testify remotely.
“This is not justice. This is re-traumatization,” she said. “Survivors already carry the weight of their experiences. Forcing them to confront their abuser face-to-face in a courtroom adds another layer of suffering that could silence them altogether.”
Sowder said passing the constitutional amendment would send a message that Iowa stands with survivors and stands for justice.
Wayne County Sherriff Keith Davis, who is also president of the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association, said passing the amendment is the right thing to do.
It’s sad that we have to do this, because the decision that was made last summer should not have been made that way.Keith Davis, Wayne County Sherriff
“It’s sad that we have to do this, because the decision that was made last summer should not have been made that way,” he said.
If the Iowa Legislature approves the language for the amendment this year or next year, the Legislature would have to approve it again after the 2026 election. Then the proposed amendment would go on the ballot for Iowa voters to decide. The earliest the amendment could go to a vote of the people would be in 2027.
In the meantime, Bird said prosecutors will do everything they can to help children through the court process. She said there is some confusion about whether the Iowa Supreme Court opinion specifically requires kids to be in the courtroom, or if it allows for testifying via two-way video. But she said prosecutors are working through that issue and don’t want to have convictions thrown out “on a technicality.”
Bird did not say if more people convicted in cases that used one-way video testimony are trying to get their convictions overturned.
Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said the Iowa Supreme Court ruling will not stop him from prosecuting crimes against children.
“Iowans will get a chance to make it clear that when it comes to the sacred right of confrontation, we acknowledge that right, but also acknowledge that there may be vulnerable victims like children who need our protection as well,” he said.
The proposed constitutional amendment has been drafted but has not yet been released by the Legislative Services Agency. Iowa’s 2025 legislative session is scheduled to begin on Jan. 13.
