Cedar Rapids man faces prison in fatal assault of his 71-year-old mother in 2020

CEDAR RAPIDS — A judge Friday convicted a Cedar Rapids man of fatally assaulting his 71-year-old mother in 2020, ruling that George Deason understood the consequences of his actions and had a “fixed purpose” to inflict harm on his mother.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Sean McPartland found Deason, 53, guilty of second-degree murder.

Deason requested a bench — a non-jury — trial, which was held in November. McPartland, who retired last month, read his written ruling Friday in Linn County District Court.

Deason faces up to 50 years in prison. He will have to serve a mandatory 35 years before being eligible for parole.

Deborah Deason, George’s sister who testified at his trial and attended the Friday hearing, whispered “Thank you, Jesus,” when the judge announced the guilty verdict. She and her daughter became emotional as the judge neared the end of reading his conclusions of law and his verdict.

She declined to comment after the hearing.

McPartland, in his summary, said Deason, beyond reasonable doubt, assaulted Elsie Deason on or about June 30 or July 1, 2020, at her home, and that she would not have died July 23 but for the assault.

The prosecution met its “burden of proof by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that (Deason) acted with malice aforethought at the time of the assault,” McPartland said.

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, during trial, also said the injuries to the woman’s brain were caused by blunt force trauma, which was confirmed by a neuropathologist at the University of Iowa.

A medical intervention to stop brain bleeding meant taking her off a previously prescribed blood thinner, Klein testified. 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.

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.

Deason’s sentencing is set for May 20.

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