Cedar Rapids man sentenced to 50 years for murder of 71-year-old mother

CEDAR RAPIDS — The sister of a Cedar Rapids man who was convicted in March of killing their 71-year-old mother, asked a judge Monday to hand down the harshest sentence possible for second-degree murder.

“He has no heart … I will never forgive him, not ever,” Deborah Deason, sister of George Deason, wrote in a victim impact statement that was read during his sentencing on Monday. “I have only one brother now, not two.”

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George Deason, 53, was sentenced Monday to 50 years in prison for the fatal beating of his mother, Elsie Mae Deason, in her southwest Cedar Rapids home. Sixth Judicial District Judge Sean McPartland found Deason guilty of second-degree murder following a non-jury trial in November of last year.

According to testimony from the trial, George Deason was living with his mother on June 30, 2020, when he assaulted her while attempting to steal about $50.

Deborah Deason testified that she found her mother’s house “trashed” and her mother scared and lying in bed with a comforter over her head on July 1, 2020. Deborah Deason said Elsie Deason told her she covered up so that George Deason would stop beating her.

George Deason told his sister people had broken into the house and assaulted their mother. When Deborah called 911 to report the assault, George ran out the back door toward an alley.

Elsie Deason died from her injuries about a month later, on July 23, 2020. She had severe brain injuries that were caused by blunt force trauma.

The defense admitted Deason assaulted his mother, but argued that her death was caused by an “intervening, superseding cause of pneumonia and a pulmonary embolism resulting from the assault” and that her conditions developed after she refused medical treatment, food and physical therapy.

Dr. Dennis Klein, the chief state medical examiner, testified during trial that Elsie Deason died from complications of traumatic brain injury, resulting in pulmonary embolism in her right lung. Contributing factors to her death were cardiovascular disease and emphysema, he stated.

Klein testified that a medical intervention to stop brain bleeding meant taking her off a previously prescribed blood thinner. That, in turn, caused the pulmonary embolism and her death, he concluded. Elsie Deason could have had a heart attack, but if she was on a blood thinner that would be less likely, he added.

‘He is an animal and a monster’

On Monday, McPartland sentenced Deason after hearing victim impact statements from family members of Deason and his mother.

The statements, written by Deborah Deason, and Elsie Deason’s sister, Eddie Forde, were read to the court by Anastasia Basquin, the Linn County Chief Victim Liaison.

Both women wrote about Elsie as a kind and loving woman, and shared their disgust with the way that George had beaten her.

“He is an animal and a monster … She was a kind, loving, gentle woman who deserves justice,” Forde wrote in her statement.

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Deborah Deason and Forde asked the judge to give Deason the harshest sentence possible. Fifty years is the maximum sentence for second-degree murder.

Deason also was sentenced to one year for a charge of assault on person in a certain occupation and five years for interference with official acts, but those sentences were set to run concurrently with his 50-year sentence, rather than consecutively. He will be required to serve at least 70 percent of his sentence, or 35 years, before he can become eligible for parole.

Trish Mehaffey, of The Gazette, contributed to this article.

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