Memmer’s appeal for new murder trial denied

IOWA CITY - A convicted killer will not get a new trial after the Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday issued a ruling upholding a district court's decision to deny his appeal.

Jonathan Memmer, now 36, was convicted by a jury in 2001 of two counts of first-degree murder for killing Maria Lehner, 27, of Belton, Mo., and Laura Watson-Dalton, 29, of Creston. Memmer met the women separately in Iowa City bars in March 1999 and took them to an unoccupied Iowa City apartment, where investigators say he bludgeoned them to death. Their bodies were found after a fire in the apartment that month.

Memmer appealed the original verdict, but the state's Court of Appeals upheld his convictions. He was sentenced to two life terms for the murders and has been in prison for more than 10 years.

In 2004, Memmer applied for post-conviction relief on 13 claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The post-conviction relief court denied and dismissed that application, and the Appeals Court affirmed the move.