1. A person commits extortion if the person does any of the following with the purpose of
obtaining for oneself or another anything of value, tangible or intangible, including labor or
services:
a. Threatens to inflict physical injury on some person, or to commit any public offense.
b. Threatens to accuse another of a public offense.
c. Threatens to expose any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule.
d. Threatens to harm the credit or business or professional reputation of any person.
e. Threatens to take or withhold action as a public officer or employee, or to cause some
public official or employee to take or withhold action.
f. Threatens to testify or provide information or to withhold testimony or information with
respect to another’s legal claim or defense.
g. Threatens to wrongfully injure the property of another.
2. Extortion is a class “D” felony.
3. It is a defense to a charge of extortion that the person making a threat other than a
threat to commit a public offense, reasonably believed that the person had a right to make
such threats in order to recover property, or to receive compensation for property or services,
or to recover a debt to which the person has a good faith claim.
4. A person convicted of extortion under this section shall be required to register as a
sex offender pursuant to the provisions of chapter 692A, if a determination is made that the
offense was sexually motivated pursuant to section 692A.126.
[C51, §2590; R60, §4213; C73, §3871; C97, §4767; S13, §4767; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §13164;
C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, §720.1; C79, 81, §711.4]
2013 Acts, ch 90, §231; 2021 Acts, ch 89, §4
Referred to in §692A.102, 692A.126, 711.3B\n\n 711.5 Chapter — application. Repealed by 2019 Acts, ch 140, §9.\n\nTue Dec 09 21:56:27 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 711 (28, 0)
\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
32
cases (
9 in the last 5 years), 1981–2025 · leading case:
State v. Crone, 545 N.W.2d 267 (Iowa 1996).
State v. Crone, 545 N.W.2d 267 (Iowa 1996).
· cites it 26× “[[Image here]] Iowa Code § 711.4 (1989). The State had the burden to prove that (1) Crone threatened to expose Forman to hatred, contempt or ridicule (2) for the purpose of obtaining for himself or another (3) anything of value, tangible or intangible.”
State v. Gant, 597 N.W.2d 501 (Iowa 1999).
· cites it 16× “See Iowa Code § 711.4 (1997). He appeals from the judgment of conviction and sentence entered on his plea.”
Rees v. O'malley, 461 N.W.2d 833 (Iowa 1990).
· cites it 8× “See Iowa Code §§ 711.4 and 902.9(4). The trial court agreed and ruled that O’Malley’s accusation of extortion constituted slander per se under Iowa law.”
French v. Foods, Inc., 495 N.W.2d 768 (Iowa 1993).
· cites it 5× “1 (1973) (now codified as § 711.4 (1991)). Hall , like the present case, involved an employee’s written statement of wrongdoing given to an employer.”
State v. Jackson, 305 N.W.2d 420 (Iowa 1981).
· cites it 6× “Defendant was charged by trial information with one count of extortion, in violation of section 711.4, The Code 1979, and one count of terrorism, in violation of section 708.”
Zohn v. Menard, Inc., 598 N.W.2d 323 (Iowa Ct. App. 1999).
· cites it 12× “Each subsequently received a letter from Me-nards demanding restitution pursuant to Iowa Code section 645.2. 1 Iowa first recognized a civil cause of action for a violation of the criminal extortion statute in Hall v.”
State v. Ross, 573 N.W.2d 906 (Iowa 1998).
· cites it 4× “Iowa Code section 711.4 pertinently defines extortion as follows: A person commits extortion if the person does any of the following with the purpose of obtaining for oneself or another anything of value, tangible or intangible, including labor or services: 2.”
United States v. Malloy, 614 F.3d 852 (8th Cir. 2010).
· cites it 3× “Threaten[ing] to inflict physical injury on some person, or to commit any public offense.”
State v. Lange, 831 N.W.2d 844 (Iowa Ct. App. 2013).
· cites it 2× “In November 1996, Lange pled guilty to a charge of extortion, a class “D” felony, in violation of Iowa Code section 711.4 (1995). In December 1996, he received a deferred judgment and was required to serve two years of supervised probation as a condition of the deferred judgment.”
State v. Morrison, 323 N.W.2d 254 (Iowa 1982).
· cites it 2× “Defendant Ira Morrison appeals from the sentence entered on his guilty-plea conviction of extortion under section 711.4(5), The Code. At the time of the offense defendant was a district judge.”
Reynolds v. Condon, 908 F. Supp. 1494 (N.D. Iowa 1996).
· cites it 4× “The state-law claims in this first amended complaint of January 17, 1995, were as follows: Count II alleged extortion as defined by Iowa Code § 711.4 by all defendants, individually and as a group; Count III alleged common-law slander by defendants Condon and Lisa Reynolds;…”
— Iowa Code § 711.4(1) — 4 cases
— Iowa Code § 711.4(1)(a) — 2 cases
— Iowa Code § 711.4(1)(c) — 1 case
— Iowa Code § 711.4(1)(g) — 1 case
— Iowa Code § 711.4(3) — 4 cases
State v. Crone, 545 N.W.2d 267 (Iowa 1996).
“[[Image here]] Iowa Code § 711.4 (1989). The State had the burden to prove that (1) Crone threatened to expose Forman to hatred, contempt or ridicule (2) for the purpose of obtaining for himself or another (3) anything of value, tangible or intangible.”
— Iowa Code § 711.4(5) — 1 case
State v. Morrison, 323 N.W.2d 254 (Iowa 1982).
“Defendant Ira Morrison appeals from the sentence entered on his guilty-plea conviction of extortion under section 711.4(5), The Code. At the time of the offense defendant was a district judge.”
— Iowa Code § 711.4(6) — 1 case
State v. Gant, 597 N.W.2d 501 (Iowa 1999).
“See Iowa Code § 711.4 (1997). He appeals from the judgment of conviction and sentence entered on his plea.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
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treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.