The county or city which has the duty to prosecute a criminal action shall pay the costs
of depositions taken on behalf of the prosecution, the costs of transcripts requested by the
prosecution, and in criminal actions prosecuted by the county or city under county or city
ordinance the fees that are payable to the clerk of the district court for services rendered and
the court costs taxed in connection with the trial of the action or appeals from the judgment.
The county or city shall pay witness fees and mileage in trials of criminal actions prosecuted
by the county or city under county or city ordinance. These fees and costs are recoverable by\n\nTue Dec 09 21:53:39 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 815 (35, 1)
9 COSTS — COMPENSATION AND FEES — INDIGENT DEFENSE, §815.15\n\nthe county or city from the defendant unless the defendant is found not guilty or the action is
dismissed, in which case the state shall pay the witness fees and mileage in cases prosecuted
under state law.
83 Acts, ch 186, §10141, 10201; 84 Acts, ch 1178, §12; 84 Acts, ch 1301, §16; 85 Acts, ch
197, §43
Referred to in §331.424
\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
41
cases (
2 in the last 5 years), 1989–2023 · leading case:
State v. Petrie, 478 N.W.2d 620 (Iowa 1991).
State v. Petrie, 478 N.W.2d 620 (Iowa 1991).
· cites it 4× “In addition, Iowa Code section 815.13 (1989) authorizes the collection of costs of a criminal prosecution from a defendant “unless the defendant is found not guilty.”
State of Iowa v. Kendall Chavez Johnson, 887 N.W.2d 178 (Iowa Ct. App. 2016).
· cites it 2× “In addition, section 815.13 allows the county or city to recover fees and costs incurred in prosecuting a criminal action “unless the defendant is found not guilty or the action is dismissed.”
State v. Bradley, 637 N.W.2d 206 (Iowa Ct. App. 2001).
· cites it 6× “Petrie turned on the language of Iowa Code § 815.13 , which specifically prohibits collection of prosecution expenses if "the defendant is found not guilty or the action is dismissed-” Iowa Code § 815.”
State v. Klindt, 542 N.W.2d 553 (Iowa 1996).
· cites it 4× “On appeal Klindt contends that (1) the supplemental restitution order violates the constitutional prohibition against ex post fac-to laws because Iowa Code section 815.13, relating to court costs in the prosecution of criminal actions, was enacted after the commission date of…”
State v. Basinger, 721 N.W.2d 783 (Iowa 2006).
· cites it 4× “Iowa Code § 815.13 . Because the district court did not consider this provision in its ruling, we will not consider it for the first time on appeal.”
State v. Watson, 795 N.W.2d 94 (Iowa Ct. App. 2011).
· cites it 2× “See Iowa Code § 815.13 . It only authorizes the recovery of witness fees and mileage in criminal actions prosecuted under county or city ordinances.”
State of Iowa v. Dianna Marie Winder (Iowa Ct. App. 2018).
· cites it 12× “These fees and costs are recoverable by the county or city from the defendant unless the defendant is found not guilty or the action is dismissed, in which case the state shall pay the witness fees and mileage in cases prosecuted under state law.”
State of Iowa v. Derrick Glenn Smith Jr. (Iowa Ct. App. 2017).
· cites it 9× “See Iowa Code § 815.13 (providing “fees and costs” recoverable from the defendant are “witness fees and mileage in trials of criminal actions prosecuted by the county or city under county or city ordinance”).”
State of Iowa v. Leandro Edwin Valdez (Iowa Ct. App. 2014).
· cites it 8× “The State requested restitution for the costs of prosecution under Iowa Code section 815.13 (2011). The district court ordered Valdez to pay restitution for those costs under section 815.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.