Appeals court overturns murder conviction of Cedar Rapids man in Marion bar shooting

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Iowa Court of Appeals Wednesday overturned the first-degree murder conviction of a Cedar Rapids man who picked a fight with another man and then fatally shot him in a Marion bar on St. Patrick’s Day in 2023.

Duval T. Walker Jr., 31, will receive a new trial because the court granted his appeal, ruling a juror had “actual bias” because he had knowledge of Walker’s previous guilty plea to a firearms charge stemming from the shooting incident.

  Buy Photo

The juror, during jury selection – was questioned separately twice by the defense and prosecution, the ruling stated. During the first day, he said he recalled seeing headlines about the shooting in a local bar but didn’t remember any details.

The next day, this juror was again questioned separately because he said he had seen a new headline about Walker — pleading to a firearms charge — but didn’t read the article. During questioning, the juror said he hadn’t formed an opinion and would base his verdict on the evidence at trial. The juror also said he wouldn’t share this information with the other jurors.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Kevin McKeever ruled before the trial that Walker’s criminal history, including his guilty plea to being a felony in possession of a firearm, wouldn’t be allowed into evidence at trial in order not to prejudice Walker.

Walker, during jury selection, challenged this juror for cause because of his knowledge of the plea, but McKeever denied it, ruling he believed the juror would be fair based on his the juror’s statements.

In the appeal, Walker contends the trial judge abused his discretion because he kept a juror who admitted to knowing facts the judge had excluded from trial, according to the ruling.

The court stated McKeever’s ruling wasn’t “technically right” under the rule because jurors may be disqualified even if they haven’t formed or expressed an opinion as to guilt or innocence. McKeever also failed to consider the circumstances surrounding this situation and did it indicate actual bias.

The ruling stated this juror found out Walker was a felon and pleaded guilty to being felon in possession of a firearm for his conduct in this shooting. The trial judge had excluded that same information from the jury because it posed a risk to unfair prejudice.

“From that ruling on Walker’s motion in limine – (taken up before trial) – we may infer that ‘the nature of the improper information’ was ‘sufficiently prejudicial to deny Walker a fair trial,’ ” according to the ruling.

The court, in ruling that McKeever abused his discretion by denying Walker’s motion to strike the juror, reversed the conviction and Walker will receive a new trial.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said Thursday his office has asked the Iowa Attorney General to file a discretionary review of the case with the Iowa Supreme Court. The justices could deny or take up the review and could overturn or affirm the appeal court decision.

Depending on the basis for the opinion, it’s not unusual for prosecutors to ask for such a review in a murder conviction.

Fatal shooting incident

In March 2024, a Linn County jury deliberated less than two hours, following about four days of testimony, before finding Walker guilty of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The jurors saw surveillance video from the bar several times during the trial, and Marion police Sgt. Nicole Hotz reviewed the different angles of the fatal shooting on video for the jury.

Hotz, who was an investigator in 2023, testified Walker approached Barnes a little before 11 p.m. and, after yelling at him, threw the first punch as Barnes turned his head away from Walker.

  Buy Photo

According to evidence, friends of Barnes and Walker then got involved in the fight, as well as a few other patrons of Cocktails & Co., 1625 Blairs Ferry Rd., on March 17, 2023.

At some point, Walker picked up a handgun off the floor that apparently had fallen out of someone’s pocket during the fight.

The video showed a bar security employee, in trying to separate the two men, grabbed Barnes and moved him through the crowded bar toward the entrance, with Walker following them. When they got to the bar area, Walker started running toward Barnes and fired a single fatal shot.

The video showed Walker ran past Barnes lying on the floor and left the bar.

Police did not recover the weapon during their investigation.

Trish Mehaffey covers state and federal courts for The Gazette

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