Cedar Rapids man pleads guilty to robbing cab driver in 2011 before trial starts

CEDAR RAPIDS — In an unexpected turn, a Cedar Rapids man told a judge he wanted to plead guilty Monday to robbing a cabdriver who was fatally stabbed during the crime in 2011. The plea came before trial testimony was to begin.

Johnathan Mitchell, 44, started talking to his lawyer, Chad Frese, near the end of the jury instructions on Monday. Frese requested a sidebar — a private discussion with lawyers and U.S. District Chief Judge Leonard Strand.

Strand excused the jury for a break, and Frese said Mitchell wanted to plead guilty to robbery affecting commerce, as charged. He said Mitchell, who has been found incompetent off and on since 2016, was competent and he had actively helped in his defense during preparation for this trial.

The judge asked Mitchell if any of his prescribed medications would interfere with his ability to understand the proceedings and Mitchell said no.

The jury remained on recess while the pleading began. After the judge started, Mitchell’s mother, Louise Mitchell — who had stepped out of the courtroom — returned. She didn’t realize her son had decided to plead guilty.

Louise Mitchell was sitting behind a Gazette reporter in the courtroom. She started saying “Don’t let him. Don’t let him,” in a hushed tone as the judge continued asking Mitchell a set of questions to establish the facts of the plea. She seemed to become increasingly upset as she slightly pounded her hand on the court bench seat and then fell over in the seat, passing out.

Court personnel and U.S. marshals in the courtroom went to Louise Mitchell’s aid and called for an ambulance. Emergency responders arrived a short time later and took her to the hospital. Her condition is unknown as of this afternoon.

The judge resumed court and Johnathan Mitchell said he wanted to continue the plea hearing.

This case has been pending for six years, mostly due to Mitchell being found incompetent when he refused to take antipsychotic medications prescribed by prison doctors.

On Monday, Mitchell admitted he robbed Catherine Ann Boyle Stickley, 54, of Cedar Rapids, on April 29, 2011. He also admitted to taking cash, a purse and money bag from her during the robbery.

According to the indictment, he obstructed commerce — the Century cab company — by “violently” robbing Stickley as she was parked in the 1500 block alley between Second and Third avenues SE.

Mitchell didn’t admit to stabbing Stickley 18 times, as a medical examiner determined. The fact that Stickley died as a result of the robbery will be a sentencing issue and could impact the sentencing guideline for Mitchell, who faces up to 20 years in federal prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Reinert said after the plea hearing.

Mitchell will have to pay victim restitution based on the loss to the victim. That could include funeral or other expenses.

Reinert said he’s been prosecuting cases for many years but never had a defendant decide to plead during the trial like this one.

Mitchell was acquitted in state court for first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in 2013 by a Story County jury. The case was moved from Linn County because of pretrial publicity.

According to testimony in that trial, Mitchell's prints were found in Stickley's blood in the cab. Two witnesses testified they saw Mitchell in her cab, and he gave one of them bloody money for crack cocaine that night.

Mitchell testified at trial that he stole money from Stickley to buy crack cocaine but that she was already dead when he rifled through her cab for money.

The federal case has been pending since 2016. The Stickley family has been waiting 11 years for closure and justice. The three siblings in the courtroom Monday said they felt relief knowing they didn’t have to relive what their mother endured that night.

After the hearing, Stickley’s daughter, Tiffany Stickley of Cedar Rapids, and son, Christopher Petersen, of Appleton, Wisc., said they were surprised about the plea. Petersen said he knew Mitchell had talked about the possibility of a plea in the past but he always had questions or concerns about it.

“It was huge sense of relief but I wanted to hear what that meant,” Petersen said. “I think this is the closure the family has been looking for.”

Mitchell hasn’t admitted to killing Stickley, but there were witnesses who would have testified that Mitchell admitted it to them, Petersen said.

Tiffany Stickley said the minute she heard he wanted to plea her emotions “were all over the place.”

She said she knew he wasn’t truthful in the first trial and she wished he would have done this sooner, instead of waiting years.

“This will only be a 20-year sentence for something that should have been life,” Petersen added.

Both said they would probably have more to say after sentencing.

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