Testimony starts Tuesday in second murder trial for Travis Standlee

DAVENPORT - Testimony begins Tuesday in Scott County District District Court in the second murder trial of Travis Standlee, a homeless man already serving 50 years for killing another Cedar Rapids homeless man last year.

Standlee, 45, is charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation death of Sharon Mead, 41, whose body was found Sept. 11, 2015, near Coe College. The trial was moved to Scott County based on pretrial publicity to ensure Standlee receives a fair and impartial jury.

A criminal complaint shows Mead and Raymond Ursino, 56, both were strangled and had 'strikingly similar injuries.” Standlee was convicted in June of second-degree murder in Ursino's death on Sept. 5, 2015.

Opening statements are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday. A jury was selected about 5 p.m. Monday. The trial is expected to last through the week.

Standlee plans to claim diminished capacity and/or intoxication as a defense, Doug Davis, Standlee's lawyer, said at a previous hearing.

According to testimony in the June trial, Standlee got into a fight with Ursino and strangled him to death in the early morning hours of Sept. 5, 2015, in the parking lot at First Presbyterian Church, 310 Fifth St. SE in Cedar Rapids. A video of the attack was shown to the jury during trial.

Ursino died from manual or hand strangulation, according to a medical examiner who testified during the first murder trial.

Standlee was released from jail after being arrested in the Ursino death because Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said police didn't have enough evidence to charge him and asked police to continue the investigation.

After Mead's death, Standlee was arrested Sept. 22, 2015, at a homeless shelter in Des Moines and charged in both deaths. The complaint shows police found fingerprints on a can near Mead's body.

Standlee at sentencing said he had no memory of killing anyone and had no memory of Ursino.

In the Ursino conviction, Standlee must serve a mandatory 35 years before being eligible for parole.