Weather delays jury selection in Dustin Jefferson murder trial

NEWTON - Jury selection for the second retrial of Dustin Jefferson, accused of helping his mother kill his wife in 2013, was postponed Tuesday because of the winter storm that affected much of the state.

The trial was set to start Tuesday in Jasper County District Court.

Jefferson's retrial was moved from Tama to Jasper County after the last trial in October ended in a hung jury. A Jasper County court clerk said the first-degree murder trial will start at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The trial is expected to go into next week.

Jefferson, 40, is charged with aiding and abetting in first-degree murder. He is accused of helping his mother, Ginger Jefferson, 59, kill his wife, Kerry O'Clair Jefferson, 32, in 2013.

Ginger Jefferson was convicted of first-degree murder in 2014. According to testimony at her trial, she stabbed her daughter-in-law twice in the neck. Kerry died from two fatal wounds to the neck and also suffered blunt force injuries to her face and head.

Jefferson's first trial ended in a mistrial during jury selection, after his lawyer argued the jury pool lacked representation of Native Americans. Jefferson is a member of the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama.

The first retrial ended in a mistrial Oct. 5, with the jury deadlocked at 11 to 1 in favor of guilty. The defense asked that his next retrial be moved out of Tama County based on a limited jury pool, because of two mistrials and because Ginger Jefferson had also been tried in Tama.

The defense also argued there had been extensive 'prejudicial” news coverage by The Gazette and the Waterloo Courier about the last mistrial, along with facts that came out in the trial regarding Jefferson's sexual abuse charges in another case.