Judge won’t dismiss vehicular homicide charge for Marion man, resulting in child’s death

CEDAR RAPIDS — A judge ruled Monday a Marion man could be charged in the death of a child resulting from a fatal crash, after he was previously convicted in the same crash because it didn’t violate double jeopardy or the statute of limitations laws.

Brandon Schaul, now 37, was convicted in 2015 for homicide by vehicle after he crossed the center line in his pickup truck and struck a van, driven by Rachel Denney, 27, of Coggon, on May 18, 2013, near Highway 13 and Valley Farm Road, near Central City.

He was also found guilty of serious injury by vehicle for permanently injuring Denney’s daughter, Izabella, who was 21 months old at the time. She suffered spinal cord and brain damage resulting in paralysis and dependence on a ventilator.

Schaul was then charged in February with homicide by vehicle — OWI, a Class B felony, after Izabella died at age 13 on Nov. 13, 2024. She died from complications of the injuries she received in the 2013 crash, according to an autopsy cited in the criminal complaint.

Last week, Schaul’s lawyer, during a hearing, argued the prosecution couldn’t file the new charge because it is double jeopardy — someone being charged or punished twice for the same offense.

Mike Lahammer, Schaul’s lawyer, said Schaul was already charged and convicted of serious injury by vehicle, which is a lesser included charge with homicide by vehicle — OWI. A conviction would bar a subsequent prosecution of the “greater offense,” Lahammer said in his written motion.

Lahammer also argued, in the alternative or additionally, that Schaul couldn’t be charged because there’s a statute of limitations for when the event or crime happened 12 years ago.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks argued Schaul couldn't be put in “jeopardy” until a death occurred and Izabella didn’t die until 2024, which was the result of the crash, according to a medical examiner.

“When the victim died, a new and distinct crime of homicide was committed,” Maybanks said in his written motion.

The prosecution also isn’t barred by the statute of limitations, Maybanks said during the hearing. The clock didn’t start until the death occurred in 2024 and charges were filed in February, well within the three years of when she died, he said.

Sixth Judicial District Judge David Cox, in his ruling, said there isn’t a violation of double jeopardy because “an exception to the general rule applies when all the facts necessary” to uphold the homicide by vehicle charge didn’t occur when the serious injury by vehicle was prosecuted.

Izabella was only 21 months old when the crash happened but she didn’t die from her injuries until 2024, Cox noted in the ruling. The most important fact is that her death also didn’t occur until after the prosecution, conviction and sentencing of Schaul in the 2013 case, which falls within the exception and doesn’t violate the double jeopardy clause.

Cox also ruled that the trial information of the new charge was filed within three years of the child’s death, so there is no violation of the statute of limitations.

The trial for Schaul will go forward. It is set for Aug. 19.

According to the new complaint, on Nov. 13, 2024, Izabella exhibited “gasping respirations” and became unresponsive and was taken to the hospital. CPR was performed but she died that day.

Izabella had suffered recent seizures due to anoxic brain injury caused by “mucus plugging” related to her ventilator dependence, the complaint stated. She also had been “battling” a respiratory infection, which made her underlying condition more difficult for her to breath, made her more susceptible to infection and more difficult for her to recover.

According to an autopsy, she suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome as a result of the underlying condition and injuries caused by the car crash and complications from those injuries, the complaint stated. The injuries from the crash in 2013 caused the complications and those remote blunt force injuries were the cause of her death, a state medical examiner told authorities.

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