Landscaper’s murder-for-hire trial reset for next year

IOWA CITY - The trial for a North Liberty man accused of plotting to murder his former business associate and the man's family won't happen until sometime next year at the earliest.

Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said a judge agreed to reschedule the trial for Justin L. DeWitt, 36. A new trial date has not been set, but Lyness said it would likely be about six months from now.

Before the trial takes place, however, DeWitt will go through a second competency evaluation.

He has been charged with four counts of attempted murder and four counts of solicitation to commit murder for a failed plot he initiated in 2016, authorities said.

Police said DeWitt, a landscaper, met with someone he believed to be a hit man - but actually was an undercover officer - on June 27, 2016. DeWitt gave the man a $1,000 down payment and signed a contract agreeing to pay the man $8,000 to have Chad Williams and his family killed for $8,000, police said.

Police were first alerted to DeWitt's plans when they received a tip from Ronald Robi, a convict who had hired DeWitt as a landscaper.

Robi previously told The Gazette that DeWitt had asked if he had ever killed anyone or knew someone who would kill for him. Robi said he recorded a conversation about the murder-for-hire plot and turned it over to police.

Court proceedings were suspended in June after the defense argued that he undergo a competency evaluation. DeWitt was found to be competent to stand trial in October.

However, Lyness said Friday that the state would seek its own independent competency evaluation. That evaluation has not yet been scheduled, she said.

DeWitt also faces charges in Muscatine County that he for plotted to have a state Department of Public Safety agent and a North Liberty couple killed in December 2016.

Authorities said DeWitt again met with an undercover agent believed to be a hit man and agreed to pay $25,000 to have all three killed. He faces three counts of attempt to commit murder in the Muscatine County case.

DeWitt faces 25 years in prison on each of the attempted murder charges and 10 years on each of the solicitation to commit murder charges.

l Comments: (319) 398-8238; lee.hermiston@thegazette.com