Mykel Roberts, charged in killing Dexter Meeks, is competent for trial

CEDAR RAPIDS — The man charged with fatally shooting Dexter Meeks and attempting to kill his brother in 2011 has been found competent for trial and a judge reset the trial for July 13 in Linn County District Court.

The criminal proceedings for Mykel A. Roberts, 29, charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and going armed with intent, have been on hold since April, when his lawyers asked the court for Roberts to undergo a competency evaluation at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville.

No details of the competency evaluation are available in court records. But 6th Judicial District Judge Chad Kepros, in his order, said the evaluation concluded Roberts is competent — meaning he understands the charges against him and is able to assist his lawyers in his defense. The proceedings had been suspended pending the competency outcome.

The case went cold for nearly 10 years until Roberts ended up serving time in Wasco State Prison in California. He was charged in this case in February.

Roberts was serving a sentence for a series of armed robberies in Turlock and Modesto, Calif., according to the Turlock Journal.

Roberts confessed to the June 26, 2011, fatal shooting of Meeks, 22, and the attempt to kill to his brother, Andrew, 20, who was sitting next to him on the porch outside Dexter’s apartment at 211 15th St. SE, the complaint stated.

Roberts told authorities he intended to kill Andrew Meeks that early morning instead of his brother.S

At the time of the shooting, Andrew Meeks was unable to identify his brother's shooter. He told police his brother had pushed him out of the line of fire that day.

Though police pursued tips and lines of inquiry, investigators ran out of leads and the case went cold by 2012.

Andrew Meeks was killed July 2, 2017, when he and another man were shot inside a car at the west-side Walmart. Quarzone Martin, 29, of Cedar Rapids, was convicted in that slaying, though the conviction was overturned last summer by the Iowa Court of Appeals. Martin will be retried June 21.

Last year, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department in Modesto, Calif., called Cedar Rapids police cold case investigator Matt Denlinger, saying an inmate, Roberts, had information about a 2011 murder in Cedar Rapids but was uncertain of the victim's name.

In April of last year, Roberts provided investigators with a complete, detailed confession that supported and corroborated many details of the shooting, according to court documents.

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