Teen has tentative plea deal in Malik Sheets murder case

CEDAR RAPIDS — One of the teens charged with killing University of Iowa student Malik Sheets during a party last summer will plead to lesser charges.

First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks is asking a judge to separate trials for Marshawn L. Jeffries, 18, and Christian Emedi, 18, who are jointly charged with first-degree murder and obstruction of prosecution. Maybanks also is asking for Emedi’s trial, now set for Nov. 16, to be reset because Jeffries has accepted a plea agreement.

There are no details of the tentative plea for Jeffries in court documents.

Maybanks, in the motion, said another reason to reset the trial is that he filed additional minutes of testimony in Emedi’s case just last week.

The defense is asking a judge to exclude those additional minutes of testimony and witnesses from trial because the late notice is so close to trial and the defense has not received all the information. The last-minute testimony of those witnesses violates Emedi’s right to a fair trial, due process and equal protection of the law, the defense said.

The defense argues the prosecution is attempting to force them to seek a continuance, which they don’t want because Emedi has been in jail for nearly a year and a half.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Ian Thornhill has not ruled on either motion.

In a previous hearing, Thornhill denied the defense’s motion for moving Emedi’s trial out of Linn County and a motion questioning the competence of one of the prosecution’s witnesses.

Cedar Rapids police, after responding to a report of shots fired around 5 a.m. June 18 at 1058 Regent Ave. NE, found Sheets badly injured inside the house, where a large party had been held earlier. Sheets died from gunshot wounds to his neck and chest.

Investigators learned from witnesses that Sheets and several others were arguing when two people — identified as Emedi and Jeffries — shot him, according to the criminal complaint.

During a hearing last month, Cedar Rapids police investigator Matt Denlinger testified that witnesses said Emedi assaulted one person and shot Sheets.

After Sheets fell to the floor, Jeffries then fired at “point-blank range” at his body, Maybanks said during a bail review hearing.

Emedi and Jeffries fled to Gurnee, Ill., on June 19, where they were arrested.

The teens, if convicted of first-degree murder, would face life sentences. But because they are juveniles, they would be eligible for parole at some point, unlike adults convicted of the charge.

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