State of Iowa v. Alicia Elaine Fredericksen

Supreme Court of Iowa·Decided February 27, 2026·No. 25-0442·Published

Opinion

In the Iowa Supreme Court No. 25–0442

Submitted January 20, 2026—Filed February 27, 2026 State of Iowa,

Appellee,

vs.

Alicia Elaine Fredericksen, Appellant.

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Guthrie County, Michael Jacobsen, judge.

The defendant appeals her conviction for a threat of terrorism. Affirmed.

Christensen, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which all justices joined.

Jacob P. Heard (argued) of Iowa Defenders, PLLC, Clive, for appellant.

Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Adam Kenworthy (argued), Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Christensen, Chief Justice.

How close is close enough? The clock was already running. With a child welfare hearing set to begin in six days, a mother stated she would torture the child protective worker assigned to her case and shoot both that worker and the judge. This appeal turns on whether such a threat—specific in its targets, explicit in its violence, and tethered to a fixed court date—is “imminent” and constitutes a threat of terrorism under Iowa Code section 708A.5 (2024). Under these circumstances, yes. It does.

After the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) removed the defendant’s children from her care, she made these threats to her adult son, who was the children’s caretaker. He reported this information to HHS, which immediately contacted law enforcement. The officer who answered the call was aware that the defendant had a history of hostility toward HHS and carried a firearm on her person during previous interactions with them. After speaking with the defendant about the threats, the officer obtained an arrest warrant for the defendant and later executed a search warrant on her residence and recovered three boxes of ammunition but no firearms.

The defendant stipulated to a trial on the minutes of testimony, and a district court found her guilty of one count of threat of terrorism in violation of Iowa Code section 708A.5. We retained the defendant’s appeal, which challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction and requires us to examine whether the defendant’s statements constituted terroristic threats that caused a reasonable expectation or fear of their imminent commission. Reviewing the record for the correction of errors at law, we affirm the defendant’s conviction. See State v. Schooley, 13 N.W.3d 608, 614 (Iowa 2024) (explaining our standard of review in sufficiency-of-evidence cases).

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

In August 2024, Alicia Fredericksen was engaged in an ongoing child welfare case involving her minor children after HHS removed them from her care over safety concerns. The children were placed in the care of Fredericksen’s adult son, Brandon. On August 3, Brandon was retrieving some of his siblings’ belongings from his mother’s home when she started badmouthing the professionals involved in her juvenile court case.

Fredericksen told Brandon that she fantasized about torturing P.B., the HHS worker assigned to the case, by cutting off her fingers and beating her until she was physically incapacitated. Fredericksen also told Brandon that she was going to shoot and kill the judge assigned to the case, as well as the HHS worker, the next time they had court. Fredericksen’s next juvenile court hearing was scheduled for August 9.

Concerned, Brandon messaged Keri Charles, a different HHS worker, that he had something important to tell her. It is unclear from the record when Brandon sent this message, but Charles followed up with Brandon through a phone call at 9:16 a.m. on August 7. Brandon informed Charles that his mother planned to bring a gun to the August 9 hearing so that she could shoot the judge and HHS worker.1 He also told Charles about Fredericksen’s desire to torture the HHS worker before killing her, but he did not go into detail about what that involved. Finally, Brandon notified Charles that his mother had expressed homicidal and suicidal thoughts, including comments about killing herself on the day of the August 9 hearing.

1Brandon reported that Fredericksen also planned to shoot one of her other sons, but that is not relevant to our analysis of her threat of terrorism conviction.

Charles found these threats credible, especially because the August 9 hearing was a contested hearing scheduled to occur in person. Consequently, she contacted the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office at approximately 9:43 a.m. to report what Brandon had told her. Charles spoke with Deputy Blake Michelsen, providing him with background on Fredericksen’s legal situation and the threats she conveyed to Brandon. Deputy Michelsen was already aware that Fredericksen had a hostile relationship with HHS workers in the past and had carried a firearm on her person during previous interactions with HHS and law enforcement.

Around 11:09 a.m., Deputy Michelsen called Fredericksen, starting the conversation by telling her that the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation received a recording of her threatening to shoot and kill a judge. Fredericksen claimed she could not remember to whom she made the threats and downplayed them as “nothing serious.” Deputy Michelsen pressed further, and Fredericksen reiterated that she could not remember making threats. She then stated she made the threats “hypothetically” but had no intent to act on them, characterizing them as “an emotional outburst.”

Fredericksen told Deputy Michelsen that she could not remember “saying something so specific and dark” concerning her threat about how to torture the HHS worker. Multiple times during the conversation, Fredericksen claimed not to remember making any threats. Again, she remarked that she might have “hypothetically” made threats, but she did not intend to act on them. When Deputy Michelsen asked Fredericksen for her definition of “hypothetical,” Fredericksen responded that it was “venting.” She eventually admitted to making the threats “due to all the complications and stress and everything,” but only

because she was emotional about her case. She informed Deputy Michelsen she no longer had access to a firearm.

That same day, Deputy Michelsen filed a complaint and affidavit against Fredericksen for making a threat of terrorism, the district court issued an arrest warrant, and Deputy Michelsen arrested Fredericksen. On August 13, Deputy Michelsen executed a search warrant at Fredericksen’s home searching for firearms. He located three boxes of ammunition in a safe in Fredericksen’s bedroom, but he did not find any firearms. Deputy Michelsen assumed the boxes of ammunition belonged to a firearm seized from Fredericksen by the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office before this case began.

The State charged Fredericksen with one count of threat of terrorism in violation of Iowa Code sections 708A.5 and 708A.1, a class “D” felony. Fredericksen waived her right to a jury trial and stipulated to a trial on the minutes of testimony. The district court found Fredericksen guilty, and we retained her timely appeal.

II. Analysis.

Fredericksen challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction, which we review for the correction of errors at law. See Schooley, 13 N.W.3d at 614. We are bound by the district court’s findings of fact if they are supported by substantial evidence. State v. Hawkins, 27 N.W.3d 562, 567–68 (Iowa 2025). In doing so, we examine the “evidence in the light most favorable to the State, including all ‘legitimate inferences and presumptions that may fairly and reasonably be deduced from the record evidence.’ ” Schooley, 13 N.W.3d at 614 (quoting State v. Mathis, 971 N.W.2d 514, 517 (Iowa 2022)). Evidence is substantial if it “would convince a rational factfinder the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” Hawkins, 27 N.W.3d at 568. To the extent

Fredericksen’s challenge involves statutory interpretation, we review that for the correction of errors at law. See State v. McCollaugh, 5 N.W.3d 620, 623 (Iowa 2024).

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