State files motion to dismiss lawsuit related to alleged 2020 Fiji home rape

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – A court filing Friday shows the state wants to dismiss the harassment case against Carson Steffen.

Steffen and another man are accused of raping Makena Solberg while she was incapacitated at a party at the Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) house in 2020.

The incident and lack of charges in the case resulted in an online petition and protests at the Fiji home. After another investigation, prosecutors charged Steffen with harassment as he is accused of sharing photos of the incident on Snapchat.

Solberg has filed civil lawsuits against Steffen and the other man involved in the alleged rape, the Fiji National Fraternity and the University of Iowa. All these lawsuits ended in agreements reached through mediation.

The intimidation trial against Steffen is scheduled for December. But on Friday, the state said it wanted to dismiss the case, “given the potential impact of information about the resolution” of the civil case seen at trial.

The filing states that Solberg, through her counsel, asked the state to dismiss the case.

The state had not yet made a ruling on this on Friday evening.

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