A Scranton man was recently sentenced to probation after a jury trial found him guilty of voter misconduct, but the prosecution was not the Greene County Attorney.

A prosecutor from the Iowa Attorney General’s Office handled the case, as a spokesperson with the AG’s Office Alyssa Brouillet confirms that a new state law gives the AG’s Office exclusive jurisdiction to prosecute cases of election misconduct. Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn disagrees with this new law because it is a massive shift of consolidating power to the state and taking away local control, where he is not allowed to prosecute any election misconduct cases that happen in Greene County. 

Laehn believes that because Joseph Thomas was trying to vote in an uncontested city council race last year, knew he was a convicted felon but was unsure if his voting rights were restored, did not necessarily warrant a jury trial, which also takes away one of his ten alloted jury trial dates he gets per year to use. 

“I just don’t see any judge sending a person to prison for five years for that offense. I think the outcome of this case was likely going to be a suspended sentence and probation no matter what. Given that, I would’ve taken the likely outcome into account when deciding whether or not this was the best way to use one of my ten trial dates.”  

When the AG’s Office was asked why they went to the extent of a jury trial, Brouillet responded that anyone that is charged with a crime is entitled to a trial by jury. She adds that it is important that the law is enforced and upheld for election integrity. 

Laehn adds that with this new law, comes another one that allows the AG’s Office to take any criminal case away from a county attorney at any time, which he remains opposed to, as he explains his main concern with it.

“If the AG’s Office does this there’s always going to be the concern or the allegation that the AG is doing it for political reasons. Even if the AG is not doing it for political reasons, we’re always going to wonder if it was done for political reasons.

Brouillet also confirmed that the AG’s Office has prosecuted similar cases like the one in Greene County since the new law about exclusive jurisdiction to prosecute election misconduct cases went into effect.