Mother relieved parole board reversed order to let out her son’s killer

IOWA CITY — Shafona Jones said she was “absolutely relieved” when she heard the Iowa Board of Parole reversed its decision and didn’t give early release to the man who over four years ago fatally shot her 22-year-old son on Iowa City’s Ped Mall.

Jones was devastated and felt numb last September when Lamar Wilson, 28, who served less than four years of a 24-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter and two other charges, was granted work release by the board.

She expected Wilson to be out soon. But instead, the board rescinded its order Nov. 30 after finding out the Iowa Department of Corrections misunderstood how much time Wilson actually had done in prison when it made a recommendation.

Jones credits Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness for following up after she learned of Wilson’s impending release.

“I appreciate Janet more than she knows,” Jones said Friday. “She was always so good to me and my family during the case and trial. I feel like they (county attorney’s office) have done the most they could do.”

Lyness told The Gazette she contacted the Department of Corrections and learned officials there wrongly believed that Wilson was to serve 12 years so they thought he served nearly half of it. But the actual sentence is 24 years. They misunderstood that the judge ran all sentences consecutively.

The Department of Corrections didn’t respond Friday to an email from The Gazette seeking comment.

Wilson was convicted and sentenced in 2018 to two 10-year sentences for voluntary manslaughter and intimidation with a dangerous weapon, and four years for two counts of assault with intent to commit serious injury — totaling 24 years.

Wilson fatally shot Kaleek Jones and injured two others, Xavier Hicks and his cousin, D’Andre Hicks, on Aug. 27, 2017, on the downtown Ped Mall. All the victims were unarmed. Wilson was originally charged with first-degree murder, but a Polk County jury found him guilty on the lesser included charge. The trial was moved to Polk because of pretrial publicity.

Lyness filed a motion, asking Judge Paul Miller to clarify his sentencing order, so she could provide that documentation to the department. Miller first appointed a defense lawyer, Brandon Schrock, to review the original order and file any resistance, but Schrock agreed with Lyness on the consecutive sentences, according court documents.

Miller filed his clarified order Nov. 3, which stated all four sentences were to be run consecutively for 24 years. Wilson also was ordered to serve a mandatory minimum of five years on the gun conviction before being eligible for parole.

Shafona Jones, who last year attended the parole board hearing by video, said the board didn’t give much reasoning for its decision. Wilson had done fairly well in prison and didn’t have any serious violations. Wilson also told them he had a job lined up at a landscaping company, which The Gazette later found out from the company not to be true.

Jones, during the hearing, told the board that Wilson had been charged in 2013 in a fatal shooting in Chicago — but was acquitted — that he was a gang member and that his convictions in her son’s slaying were upheld last year by the Iowa Supreme Court.

Andrew Boettger, chair of the parole board, after the September hearing confirmed that on recommendation from the Corrections Department and based on interviews, the board granted work release for Wilson.

The department provides the parole board with information on the inmate, including the prison time served and any good time credit — inmates receive so much credit for days they have served.

Wilson was denied his “stand-your-ground” defense during trial and in his appeal. The court ruled he wasn’t entitled to immunity as the shootings were not justified under Iowa law.

The stand-your-ground provision was part of a sweeping gun rights bill in the Iowa Legislature, enacted a month before Wilson committed the fatal shooting. Wilson’s case was the first to test the immunity law in Eastern Iowa, but the trial judge had denied him immunity under the stand-your-ground defense in a separate hearing after his trial.

Jones said although she’s relieved Wilson remains behind bars, now it just starts the process all over — worried about his next parole hearing.

“It’s so tiring to be a victim of crime because you are always having to fight,” Jones said. “It’s forever fighting. It’s a relentless effort that doesn’t end. But this was my child. I just pray they (the board) do a little more research because he’s a mass manipulator. I hope they look at the severity of the crime and considers someone’s actions if they do the same thing over and over again.”

Wilson will have a parole hearing May 30 and his possible discharge date is July 23, 2028, which would be after serving 10 years, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com