District court, Judicial District 5

Michael K. Jacobsen

District Court Judge · District 5A · Jasper County

About

Appointed to this post in 2018¹
Next on the ballot: November 2032, in District 5A²

Judge Jacobsen, Jasper County, was appointed to the bench in June 2018. He received his bachelor's degree in History and Political Science from South Dakota State University in 1990 and his Juris Doctorate from Drake in 1993. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Jacobsen was in private practice…

Full biography on iowacourts.gov

Retention votes

Election	Yes	No	Kept by
November 3, 2026	63,513	26,928	70.2% yes

What lawyers said

Before each retention vote, the Iowa State Bar Association asks lawyers who’ve appeared before the judge to rate them from 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent), and whether the judge should be kept.³

97% of 101 responding lawyers said to keep the judge (2026).

Question	2026
Knowledge and use of the law	4.4
Sees the facts of a case clearly	4.4
On time for court	4.6
Listens to arguments and testimony	4.6
Runs the courtroom well	4.6
Temperament and manner	4.6
Clear, well-written decisions	4.4
Rules promptly	4.5
Uses technology to improve the courts	4.6
Avoids needless personal criticism	4.5
Decides on the law and facts, not outside pressure	4.5
Courteous and patient	4.6
Treats people equally	4.6
Fair to people without a lawyer	4.5
Said to keep the judge	97%
Lawyers responding	101

Source: Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review: 2026 (page 40).

Appeals from this judge’s cases

2 appeals on record; 1 reversed or vacated at least in part.⁴

Criminal appeal No. 23-2016
Iowa Supreme Court · March 13, 2026 · Dallas County · Decision of Court of Appeals Vacated; Sentence Vacated and Case Remanded for Res…
AI summary The defendant appealed his prison sentence after failing to meet a condition in a plea agreement to purchase a home. The court of appeals had previously dismissed the appeal, but the Iowa Supreme Court has now overturned that decision. The case is being sent b…
Criminal appeal No. 25-0442
Iowa Supreme Court · February 27, 2026 · Guthrie County · Affirmed
AI summary The defendant appealed her conviction for making a threat of terrorism, arguing that there was not enough evidence to prove her actions caused fear or posed an imminent threat. The court affirmed the conviction. This means the original decision finding the def…

Notes

From the Judicial Branch’s biography of the judge. ↩
Expected: retained judges serve 6 years before the next vote (Iowa Code §46.16). A judge who retires or reaches 72 leaves sooner. ↩
Scores from the Iowa State Bar Association Judicial Performance Review, a survey of Iowa lawyers who appeared before the judge. The ISBA publishes it before each retention election; only the numbers are shown here, with a link to the page of its report they’re on. ↩
Most cases are never appealed, and a reversal can turn on a change in the law or a close question, so these counts say little about a judge’s work on their own. Iowa Funnel has Supreme Court opinions since November 2017 and Court of Appeals opinions from November 2026. ↩

Sources: the Iowa Judicial Branch; retention votes from the Iowa Secretary of State and civicAPI; lawyers’ ratings from the Iowa State Bar Association.