Man charged in 2 C.R. strangulation deaths wants court to withhold statements made to police

A homeless man accused of strangling two people to death last September wants to keep statements he made to police out of one of his trials, claiming police violated his rights.

Travis Standlee, 44, charged with first-degree murder in two separate homicides, is accused of killing Raymond Ursino, 56, who was found dead on Sept. 5 in a church parking lot and Sharon Mead, 41, who was found near a bus stop at Coe College on Sept. 11.

According to a criminal complaint, both Ursino and Mead had been strangled and had 'strikingly similar injuries.” A surveillance video showed Standlee and Ursino fighting near where Ursino's body was found. And investigators also found finger prints on a can near Mead's body, the complaint shows.

The two cases were severed in February, which means there will be two separate trials. Standlee's first trial in Ursino's death will be May 9 and the second trial for Mead's death is set for Aug. 22 in Linn County District Court. He is claiming diminished responsibility and/or intoxication by alcohol and/or self-defense in both cases.

Dave Grinde, Standlee's lawyer, is asking the court to not allow Standlee's statements made to a Cedar Rapids police investigator on Sept. 16 and 22 in regards to Mead's death, while Standlee was staying at a homeless shelter in Des Moines. Grinde argues investigator Jeff Holst didn't read Standlee his Miranda rights and then or when Holst and another investigator interviewed him on Sept. 22, as he was getting ready to check out of the shelter.

The first interview on Sept. 16, lasted over two hours and after a 40 minute interrogation on Sept. 22, they served him with an arrest warrant for the two murder charges, according to the motion. The motion states the two officers didn't read his rights to him until serving the warrant and handcuffing him.

Grinde said in the motion that a 'reasonable” person would have thought they were in custody or couldn't leave.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Jordan Schier resists the motion, arguing Standlee wasn't in custody and police aren't required to administer Miranda rights to everybody they question.

Schier argues Standlee and the investigator were in an unlocked private room at the shelter and it was a place, his residence at the time, where he felt secure. Holst was dressed in plain clothes, was not 'imposing,” and his badge and gun were not displayed.

Holst showed Standlee photos of himself and Mead together on the night of her death, and Standlee admitted to being with her that night, according to the motion.

Schier pointed out that Holst told Standlee he wasn't under arrest or in custody.

A hearing is set June 6 on the motion.

Standlee was first arrested in Ursino's death on Sept. 9 but the next day Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said there was lack of evidence to charge him and he asked police to continue the investigation. Standlee was then released from jail on Sept. 10 and police said Mead died about Sept. 11.

Vander Sanden and Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman refused to comment after Standlee was charged on the circumstances surrounding Standlee's release and his subsequent actions.