Articles Tagged: Linn County Attorney’s Office

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.

A form of cyberbullying, doxxing involves posting private or personal identifiable information online about another person — such as a home address, phone number, Social Security number or other identifiers — for the purposes of harassing, intimidating, embarrassing or otherwise harming the person.

Denzel Wilson, on trial for first-degree murder, testified Monday he felt threatened by Kenyauta Vesey-Keith at a bar and shot him because he saw Vesey-Keith reaching for a gun in his waistband or pocket.

She hadn’t wanted to go out, night seemed ‘off’

A prosecutor, in his opening, said Kenyauta Vesey-Keith was fatally shot in 2023 over rival gang “animosity” that has continued since 2016 when Vesey-Keith killed another man during a street fight. Denzel Wilson is on trial this week for first-degree murder.

Appeals court dismisses one trafficking in stolen weapons conviction for Stanley Donahue, who tried to kill a Linn County sheriff’s deputy during a convenience store robbery in 2021. His other nine convictions were upheld and his sentence remains 92 years in prison.

An analysis and comparison of the shell casings and a palm print led police to one suspect in the May 2020 murder and burglaries -- Damontie Lee Haggstrom-Wells, 22, of Cedar Rapids, who was charged in 2023.

Judge sentenced Cedar Rapids mother to 40 years in prison, for what he called “horrendous acts” of child abuse. Her 3-year-old son suffered multiple, repeated injuries, which a medical expert said was “torture.”

A 19-year-old Maquoketa man pleaded to theft and conspiracy charges for his participation in the fatal shooting of Michael McCune, 16, of Cedar Rapids, on Feb. 18, 2023. He faces up to 32 years in this case and a separate theft conviction.