Cedar Rapids man pleads to causing death of 18-year-old Marissa Doolin

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man pleaded to unintentionally causing the death of 18-year-old Marissa Doolin in December when he discharged a gun.

Larenzo L. Burnett, 20, filed a written guilty plea to involuntary manslaughter, a felony, and tampering with a witness, an aggravated misdemeanor. He admitted, in the plea, to recklessly discharging a gun.

He also admitted to threatening an individual who was a witness to the shooting.

A criminal complaint stated Burnett was waving a weapon around Doolin’s face and the gun was discharged when she tried to push it away on Dec. 22 while they were in an apartment at 2110 Westdale Dr. SW.

Doolin was shot in the face and died Dec. 26 after being transferred from a Cedar Rapids hospital to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

Burnett also threatened a witness who was in the residence at the time. Both Burnett and the witness ran from the apartment after Doolin was shot. Doolin was found at 3:25 p.m., lying on the couch, according to the criminal complaint.

Burnett and the witness — who is not named — initially told police Doolin was shot through a window by an unknown person, according to the complaint. But police said there was no damage to any windows and a single shell casing was found inside the apartment.

Two days after the shooting, Burnett in a phone call from the Linn County Jail, threatened the witness, saying to not talk to police and “to be ready for whatever is coming to him,” according to police.

In December 2019, 6th Judicial District Judge Paul Miller gave Burnett a deferred judgment in a conviction of intimidation with a dangerous weapon. Witnesses identified Burnett as the individual who fired a gun at or within a group of people in a residential area July 9, 2019, in the 500 block of 16th St. SE, a complaint stated.

Burnett, at that time, had a previous conviction for carrying weapons on April 5, 2019.

Burnett then racked up more violations and Judge Christopher Bruns revoked the deferred judgment and gave him a suspended sentence and three years probation.

He was sent to the Lary Nelson Center, a halfway house, but escaped and removed his ankle monitor. He was in jail on the escape charge when he was arrested in the Doolin shooting.

Along with the plea in the shooting, his probation was revoked.

He faces an additional five years on the gun charge, which will run consecutively to five years for manslaughter and two years for tampering with a witness, for a total of up to 12 years in prison.

His sentencing is set for July 6 in Linn County District Court.

Burnett also has a pending burglary charge out of Michigan and has waived extradition. He may serve his Iowa prison term first before being sent back to Michigan.

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