Articles Tagged: Murder

Defense for Marion man says a fair and impartial jury can’t be selected in Linn County because the pretrial publicity. The news articles and coverage has reported unsubstantiated information. Prosecution argues news articles have been accurate and reported facts in the case taken from criminal complaints and court documents.

Tramontez Lockett, 18, of Cedar Rapids, will be the third teen to plead in the fatal shooting of Michael McCune, 16, of Cedar Rapids, on Feb. 18, 2023. His plea hearing is set for next week.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks shared year-end stats for 2024, which showed significant decreases in violent and serious crimes. The five felony prosecutors also successfully prosecuted 10 homicides last year and have more on their plates this year, as their caseloads continue to top the national average per attorney.

The Iowa Court of Appeals upheld the three first-degree murder convictions for Alexander Jackson, who killed his parents and teen sister in 2021. The court denied his arguments, saying there was “overwhelming” evidence to convict.

Baynon Berry, now 17, pleads to second-degree murder for fatally shooting Michael McCune, 16, on Feb. 18, 2023 in northwest Cedar Rapids. He conspired with three others to kill McCune over past rival gang and state training school conflicts, prosecutors said.

A judge on Friday sentenced McKinley Louisma to life in prison without parole for the kidnapping, torture and strangulation of Melody Hoffman, 20, of Marion, on Feb. 17. Melody’s mother said her daughter would want her to forgive Louisma but she couldn’t.

A Cedar Rapids landlord found his first-floor tenant, Dorothy J. Rose, 43, lying face down in her apartment on Nov. 28, 2006. Police found Rose had been strangled with an electrical cord and another item. The murder remains unsolved but is being reviewed again by cold case investigators.

A judge, in two separate pretrial hearings Friday, said trials for Huston Danker and Karina Cooper, both accused of killing Cooper’s husband in 2021, will go forward. Danker will be tried Jan. 21 in Johnson County and Cooper on Feb. 25 in Linn County.

A Johnson County jury Tuesday found Renard Winfield Jr., of Gary, Ind., guilty of first-degree murder in what prosecutors called a revenge plot where Winfield posed as a woman to lure Tommy Curry, of Iowa City, to his death. The jury deliberated nearly four hours on Tuesday.

Renard Winfield Jr., of Gary, Ind., told police during an interview, he didn’t know or kill Tommy Curry, 31, of Iowa City, in April of 2021. He also denied being in Iowa at the time, even though investigators had evidence he was in Iowa City on April 28, when Curry was fatally shot.

Iowa City police investigators testify about numerious pieces of evidence, including cell phone data, surveillance videos and a video made by Renard Winfield, which they say showed he lured Tommy Curry to his death.

An Iowa City police officer testified Thursday some of the ammunition used to kill an Iowa City man is not typically found at crime scenes. Five bullets were “unique and more powerful,“ and able to penetrate metal.

A prosecutor says the fatal shooting of Tommy Curry in 2021 is about revenge -- “a dish best served cold.” Renard Winfield Jr., 32, of Gary, Ind., is accused of posing as a woman on a dating app to lure Curry, of Iowa City, to his death.

A Linn County jury, deliberating for less than two hours Thursday, convicted a Hiawatha man in the February kidnapping, torturing and stranglulation death of 20-year-old Melody Hoffman of Marion.

The autopsy of Melody Hoffman, 20, of Marion, showed blunt force injuries all over her body, along with five stab wounds and numerous cutting marks on her back. A medical examiner also said Hoffman may have been pregnant at the time of her strangulation or recently had a miscarriage, which could be a possible motive for the Hiawatha man on trial for kidnapping and murder.