Judge sentences Travis Standlee to another 50 year sentence in second strangulation murder

CEDAR RAPIDS - When asked by a judge Thursday if he wanted to make a statement before sentencing, Travis Standlee turned toward the press and said he wanted to speak without being misquoted.

'I did not kill Sharon Mead,” he said, loudly.

Standlee followed that by saying he was convicted based on a 'lying statement made by a jailhouse snitch and God will judge him. Someone who follows the path I walk can have a happy life ... even in prison.”

Standlee, 45, is likely to spend the rest of his life in an Iowa prison after Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Patrick Grady sentenced him to 50 years for second-degree murder in the strangulation death of Sharon Mead, 41, on Sept. 11, 2015. Grady ran the sentence consecutively to Standlee's previous 50-year sentence for second-degree murder in the strangulation death of 55-year-old Raymond Ursino.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Jordan Schier said Standlee must serve 70 percent - 35 years - of each sentence before being eligible for parole. Whenever Standlee is discharged on the first sentence, he is to then begin serving the second sentence, Schier said.

Schier, in arguing for consecutive sentences, said Mead is the second life Standlee has taken, and while it's unclear who he is because he's from another state and there's not much background in the presentencing report that can be verified, it is clear that while he has been in Linn County he's been a 'dangerous” person.

'His actions have shown this after he was released in one murder, he committed the same offense a few days later,” Schier said.

Dave Grinde, Standlee's lawyer, in arguing to run the sentences concurrently, said both juries found Standlee didn't act with 'premeditation or specific intent” since they convicted him of second-degree murder, rather than first-degree murder. He said the consecutive ruling basically amounts to a life sentence.

Explaining his ruling, Grady said he ran the sentences back to back because Standlee killed two 'relatively harmless people,” which are aggravating circumstances.

Mead's family members, who are from out of state, didn't make victim's impact statements on Thursday. Schier said they had planned to be there but had an unexpected medical issue.

Grinde also made a motion for a new trial, arguing there wasn't substantial evidence and no forensic evidence to convict Standlee of second-degree murder.

Grady denied the motion, saying there was sufficient evidence for the verdict. Standlee was the only one with Mead on Sept. 11, 2015, and there was a possible motive established when she rebuffed Standlee, as well as Standlee telling an investigator that he believed she was dead at the bus stop.

Testimony during the Mead murder trial indicated she and Standlee were together the night of Sept. 10 and into the early morning hours of Sept. 11. Standlee and Mead walked to the bus stop at First Avenue NE and College Drive on the Coe College campus in Cedar Rapids before her death.

Standlee testified he and Mead started kissing but Mead stopped his advances. He claimed he got up from the bench and Mead fell off, hitting her head. Standlee said she was alive when he left to get them food.

Standlee told a police investigator that he was alone with Mead after her boyfriend left them. He also said he felt panicked after she fell because he thought Mead was dead. He also initially said he wasn't with her.

There was also video footage played for the jurors which showed Standlee and Mead together at different times in the morning, buying malt liquor. The bottle was found at the bus stop and had fingerprints from Standlee and Mead, as well as a mixture of both of their DNA.

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