Governor’s niece to defend expelled teen

Governor’s niece to defend expelled teen

Teen and father accused of misdemeanors

Des Moines attorney Christine Branstad will defend the 17-year-old boy recently expelled from Charles City High School for allegedly striking an assistant wrestling coach.

An adjudicatory hearing for the teen is scheduled for 10:15 a.m., Jan. 7, in Floyd County Juvenile Court.

Branstad is the niece of Gov. Terry Branstad.

Floyd County Attorney Rachel Ginbey filed a delinquency petition Dec. 9 accusing the teen of assault causing bodily injury or mental illness, a serious misdemeanor. The petition said the teen “did assault” the coach.

Formerly a volunteer coach, the alleged victim was hired by the Charles City School District as an assistant coach for the Comet wrestling team in 2015. He has sons on the team.

A no-contact order is in place banning contact between the teen and the alleged victim’s family.

A no-contact order is also in place banning contact with the alleged victim’s family by the teen’s father, a 41-year-old former longtime Charles City assistant wrestling coach who was charged Dec. 7 with two counts of third-degree harassment, misdemeanors. The charges are linked to civil action filed in July 2014 by the alleged victim and his spouse seeking an injunction restricting contact with the expelled teen’s father, who accused the alleged victim of harassing his son.

The expelled teen’s father was held in the Floyd County Jail overnight after he was arrested by the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant.

The expelled teen’s father, also being represented by Christine Branstad, had demanded a jury trial on the misdemeanor charges. It is scheduled for 9:30 a.m., Feb. 12, in Floyd County Courthouse.

The expelled teen’s father, who had been on administrative leave from his job as a probation officer, has resigned from that job. On Dec. 16, the School Board voted 4-0 at a special meeting in the Charles City Council Chambers to expel the teen for the rest of the school year and suspended him indefinitely from extra-curricular activities. It also recommended anger-management counseling.

School Board member Robin Macomber was absent.

Four police officers stood outside the council chambers during the deliberations and vote, and one stood within.

Board members and administrators were escorted to their cars after the meeting.

The teen and his family did not attend the meeting. The Comets wrestling coaching staff did attend as witnesses.

Christine Branstad has been in the news this year for some higher-profile cases, including representing the governor’s brother in a dispute with the DNR over fees from an illegal 2008 discharge into the Winnebago River from his cattle-farming operation.

She also represented a former Des Moines school employee accused of having a sexual relationship with a student during summer vacation. Branstad successfully argued that the charges should be dismissed because the position held by the woman isn’t included in Iowa’s sexual exploitation law that bans relationships between students and school employees.

By Chris Baldus cbaldus@charlescitypress.com