Articles Tagged: Linn County Attorney’s Office

The Marion man had just talked to a police investigator before witnesses said he intentionally drove into westbound traffic, crashing into vehicle driven by a pregnant woman, court records show. Her serious injuries included the premature termination of her pregnancy.

Linn County paid $150,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former legal assistant against the county and initially against two prosecutors for sexual harassment and retaliation. Nearly half of the settlement was paid to the former employee’s lawyer for legal fees.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks knew the sex abuse cases usually took longer to move through the system, but when he started looking at the data it was more “compelling” than he thought. There are 80 open cases - four have been pending since 2021 and 12 since 2023. He asked the court if they could work together to speed up the process.

Linn County Board of Supervisors approved a settlement Wednesday in a sex harassment and retaliation lawsuit filed by a former legal assistant against the county and initially against Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks. Maybanks and another prosecutor were dismissed from the suit before the settlement was approved.

The mother of Myron Snyder Jr., 21, said her grief is “just as bad” as the night her son was fatally shot while making a DoorDash delivery on Oct. 5, 2023. She said “not everything happens for a reason” because this was a “senseless, horrific and life-changing crime.”

Family members of Kenyauta Vesey-Keith, who was murdered in 2023 by Denzel Wilson, gathered in a courtroom Friday with homemade signs to support Vesey-Keith’s mother and sister, who spoke during Wilson’s sentencing. Wilson was sentenced to life in prison.

The Linn County Attorney’s Office ruled Monday that the use of deadly force by two Cedar Rapids police officers in February — during an exchange of gunfire during an 11-hour standoff — was justified. No one was injured in the shooting.

The parents, who set up a video call app on a phone to watch their infant as they went outside, had no idea they would catch a predator sexually abusing their 3-month-old. The abuser was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison.

The father told investigators had been thinking about it for days and was “trying to decide” if and how to kill the child, a complaint shows. He is claiming insanity.

A Cedar Rapids mother, tearing up and sobbing throughout her victim impact statement, listed the graphic injuries her infant suffered at the hands his father.

Witnesses testify they saw a Cedar Rapids man, driving an SUV, go down embankment, cross onto Interstate 380 and crash into a motorcyclist, who was ejected and thrown into median cable barriers. He was dead when first responders arrived.

Cameron Leonard, taking the stand in his own defense, said he was protecting himself and his brother when he fatally shot Myron Snyder, a DoorDash delivery driver on Oct. 5, 2023. He said he didn’t intend to mislead police. It was just his best recollection of events.

A 21-year-old DoorDash driver was “ambushed, surrounded and slaughtered” on Oct. 5, 2023, a prosecutor said during his opening in Cameron Leonard’s first-degree murder trial in Linn County District Court. Victim’s mother testifes she heard gunshots while talking to her son.

A Linn County jury deliberated about four hours Wednesday before finding Denzel Wilson guilty of first-degree murder. He faces life in prison without parole. The jury did acquit him of going armed with intent.

A psychologist testifies how the mental status of Denzel Wilson affected his decision to fatally shoot Kenyauta Vesey-Keith on June 11, 2023. A rebuttal witness said Wilson told her he shot Vesey-Keith for revenge.