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Replay live coverage: Johnathan Mitchell murder trial

Oct. 18, 2013 1:23 pm
The murder trial of Johnathan Mitchell, who is accused of slaying a Cedar Rapids cab driver in 2011, resumes 9 a.m. today in Story County District Court.
Mitchell, 35, of Cedar Rapids, is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery. He is accused of killing Cathy Stickley, 55, a Century Cab driver, April 29, 2011. According to testimony, Stickley's body was found by her vehicle in the 1500 block alley between 2nd and 3rd avenues SE. Stickley was stabbed 18 times in the neck and head, according to testimony.
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The trial, moved from Linn County to Story County District Court last year based on pretrial publicity, is expected to go into next week after the trial was delayed Wednesday. Follow Gazette Reporter Trish Mehaffey's live coverage from the courtroom.
The prosecution claims Mitchell robbed and killed Stickley that night to pay for crack cocaine that he had bought earlier in the evening.
Mitchell's defense is he was there that night but he didn't kill Stickley. The defense accused Stickley of drug-related activity that night which would give someone else a motive for murder.
Dawn Stickley, Cathy Stickley's daughter, testifed Monday her mother was an honest person, and she wasn't using or selling drugs.
Mitchell's first trial started more than a year ago, last August, but ended in mistrial during jury selection because the prosecutor had a serious medical condition and couldn't continue the trial. There were several continuances before that and a few after the mistrial.
Mitchell also is charged in a separate case from 2010 with beating a man near Coe College. He is charged with willful injury, causing bodily injury, and was out on bond in that case during the time Stickley was killed.
Johnathan Mitchell listens to testimony during his trial for first-degree murder and first-degree robbery at the Story County Courthouse on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013, in Nevada. Mitchell is charged in the April 2011 death of Century Cab driver Cathy Stickley in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette-KCRG)