Duane Yates v. Iowa
SocialSecurity DueProcess Punishment HabeasCorpus
Whether inmates who file a postconviction under lowa Code 822 in the lowa District Court's are denied the equal protection of law under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment
QUESTION(S) PRESENTED 1. Whether inmates who file a postconviction under lowa Code 822 in the lowa District Court’s are denied the equal protection of law under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment as the lowa Court’s claim that there is a difference in postconvictions in a criminal and prison disciplinary hearing to deny the applicant the right to an attorney when the difference being is that if you are poor you cannot have an attorney but you can hire one for a disciplinary action if you have money and as this action pertains to the loss of good time on a criminal conviction should counsel be available to both the rich and the poor under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution? 2. Whether the district denied Yates his due process of state law when the court erred by not following Chapter 23 of the lowa Rules of Court as it failed to use the mandatory trial scheduling order of Rule 23 Form 2 and allowed the State to enter an exhibit and evidence after the 7 day deadline prior to trial which severely altered the document exhibit by intentionally omitting an item that Yates needed to prepare a defense for after the State resisted Yates’ motion to produce all the tapes of the kitchen and the court ruled in favor of the State to not turn over these tapes? 3. Whether Yates was denied due process of law when the prison failed to follow lowa Code of 704.1 and 704.3 when defending himself from an aggressive attack by another inmate at the prison as the prison kitchen staff stood by and allowed another inmate to attack Yates while at his assigned prison job? 4. Whether Yates was denied due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution when the court refused to hear and consider the equal protection of similarly situated inmates when Yates tried to argue that his sanction was more severe than others who were involved in a fight and Yates had to act in self defense and got more severe sanction while other inmates enjoyed a lesser sanction for fighting than that of Yates? 5. Whether Yates was denied due process of law under Wolff v. McDonnell when the court used the report as some evidence to uphold the sanction when Wolff says that the report is only a notice to the inmate on the rule violations that the inmate was supposed to have violated and denied him counsel in a district court setting by not allowing him a court appointed attorney on the loss of good time? 6. Whether Yates was denied his United States Constitution’s Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments right of cruel and unusual punishment and equal protection when he was placed in lockup for acting in self : defense when other inmates who were fighting got a far lesser sanction for fighting when their fight stemmed from a direct altercation between these other inmates? i