STORY COUNTY, Iowa (KCAU) — An attorney for suspended Iowa State University tight end DeShawn Hanika is raising questions about the legality of the investigation that lead to charges against his client.
In new court filings on Monday, Hanika’s attorney – Van Plumb – is requesting that the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation lay out the timeline that lead to the investigation. Plumb has made similar requests in his defense of fellow client and former Hanika teammate Eyioma Uwazurike. Hanika is pleading not guilty to the charge against him.
More than a dozen current and former athletes at Iowa and Iowa State have been charged with violating state gambling laws. The athletes were all at first charged with Tampering With Records for allegedly betting on sports gambling apps using other person’s accounts. However the state has subsequently admitted in court that the players never actually violated that law. The state admitted the charging error when a group of athletes pled guilty to Underage Gambling.
In a Motion for Discovery filed on behalf of Hanika on Monday, Plumb renews his request for a timeline of the events that lead to his client being charged. According to the filing, Plumb argues that investigators had a list of usernames of suspected athletes who’d been gambling in February when they subpoenaed FanDuel – a sports gambling site – for geolocation data on those accounts. In his court filing, Plumb asks a judge to compel the state to reveal how investigators obtained those usernames in the first place.
If his clients were specifically targeted for prosecution because of their status as athletes, Plumb has argued the constitutional rights of his clients may been violated. Plumb has also pointed out in past court filings that the state’s gambling investigation netted only male athletes at the state’s two biggest schools and no others on campus.
Here is the full list of charged athletes and the latest information on their cases:
Cyclones charged
- Eyioma Uwazurike – pleaded not guilty
- Hunter Dekkers – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
- DeShawn Hanika – pleaded not guilty
- Isaiah Lee – pleaded not guilty
- Jirehl Brock – pleaded not guilty
- Dodge Sauser – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
- Paniro Johnson – pleaded not guilty
- Jake Remsburg – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
- Jeremiah Williams – pleaded not guilty
Hawkeyes charged
- Aaron Blom – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
- Gehrig Christensen – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
- Arland Bruce – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
- Aaron Uhlis – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
- Jack Johnson – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
- Reggie Bracy – pleaded guilty to Underage Gambling
