Iowa Code » Chapter 701 — GENERAL CRIMINAL LAW PROVISIONS
Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 701.6 (2026)

Ignorance or mistake

✓ current as of July 2026
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All persons are presumed to know the law. Evidence of an accused person’s ignorance or mistake as to a matter of either fact or law shall be admissible in any case where it shall tend to prove the existence or nonexistence of some element of the crime with which the person is charged. [C79, 81, §701.6]

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Notes of Decisions
Cited in 22 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1981–2024 · leading case: Saadiq v. State, 387 N.W.2d 315 (Iowa 1986).
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Saadiq v. State, 387 N.W.2d 315 (Iowa 1986). · cites it 7× “Iowa Code § 701.6 . Thus if a statute has sufficient publication that it is discoverable by reasonable means and it contains “ ‘ascertainable standards to determine what it proscribes, then the actor can be held criminally liable for his conduct.”
State of Iowa v. Travis Howard Richard Beck, 854 N.W.2d 56 (Iowa Ct. App. 2014). · cites it 2× “5 (codifying defense of intoxication); Iowa Code § 701.6 (codifying defense of ignorance or mistake).”
State v. Swartz, 601 N.W.2d 348 (Iowa 1999). · cites it 4× “Section 701.6 provides: All persons are presumed to know the law.”
State v. Clark, 346 N.W.2d 510 (Iowa 1984). · cites it 8× “The defense of mistake of law is codified in Iowa Code section 701.6 (1981): All persons are presumed to know the law.”
Traylor v. State, 43 S.W.3d 725 (Tex. App. 2001). · cites it 2× “Code § 35-41-3-7 (1999); Iowa Code § 701.6 (1999); Kan.Stat. § 21-3203(1) (1999); Ky.”
State v. Finders, 743 N.W.2d 546 (Iowa 2008). · cites it 2× “Iowa Code § 701.6 . Thus, it is not unfair to require a registered sex offender to comply with the rule once he establishes a new residence.”
State v. Satern, 516 N.W.2d 839 (Iowa 1994). · cites it 2× “Iowa Code § 701.6 . Iowa Code sections 703.”
State v. Metz, 636 N.W.2d 94 (Iowa 2001). · cites it 2× “Under Iowa Code section 701.6, a mistake of fact is only of legal significance if it tends to negate some element of the crime charged.”
Millwright v. Romer, 322 N.W.2d 30 (Iowa 1982). · cites it 2× “Evidence of an accused person's ignorance or mistake as to a matter of either fact or law shall be admissible in any case where it shall tend to prove the existence or nonexistence of some element of the crime with which the person is charged"). Section 558.68, The Code, the…”
State v. Christensen, 414 N.W.2d 843 (Iowa Ct. App. 1987). · cites it 4× “Relatedly, Iowa Code section 701.6 (1985) provides, in pertinent part, that “[ejvidence of an accused person’s mistake as to a matter of .”
State v. Willet, 305 N.W.2d 454 (Iowa 1981). · cites it 2× “He claims that if he were informed that the State was going to rely on the ages of the participants, he would have presented a defense of mistake of fact or law under section 701.6. On appeal, Willet contends that the court erred in overruling his motion for a new trial.”
State v. Tippett, 624 N.W.2d 176 (Iowa 2001). · cites it 2× “In response the State urges that our decisions have not generally interpreted the word “willfully,” when used in a criminal statute, as requiring knowledge by accused persons that their conduct was against the law.”
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