Second murder trial set for Marshall in Iowa City landlord’s death

IOWA CITY - The second trial for a man whose first-degree murder conviction was overturned has been scheduled for September, though that trial date could change.

According to online court records, the first-degree murder trial for 25-year-old Justin Marshall has been set for Sept. 27. A final pretrial conference is scheduled for Sept. 16.

However, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said Wednesday those dates might not be realistic.

'It's probably going to be more up to his attorney,” Lyness said. 'I'm guessing it's probably optimistic to have it that quickly. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was postponed from that date.”

Jail records show Marshall has been transported from Anamosa State Prison to the Johnson County Jail. A $1 million cash bond has been reinstated as well, court records show.

Marshall was convicted of first-degree murder in February 2013 for the Oct. 8, 2009, fatal shooting of 64-year-old John Versypt. Authorities said Marshall intended to rob Versypt, a landlord at the former Broadway Condominiums, but ended up shooting him in the head and hand.

The first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence.

That conviction was overturned, however, by the Iowa Court of Appeals in 2015. The appeals court ruled that the testimony of Antonio Martin - a cellmate of Marshall's at the Muscatine County Jail - should not have been allowed during the trial. Martin had an agreement with federal authorities to provide information on Marshall in exchange for a reduced sentence.

The appeals court ruled Martin was essentially acting as an agent of the state, and Marshall should have had an attorney present during any questioning by Martin.

In June, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the appeals court ruling in a 4-3 decision. Associate Supreme Court Justice Brent Appel wrote in his opinion that Martin elicited incriminating statements from Marshall.

Martin told Marshall 'tell your side of the story if you're going to get a lesser charge.” The court said this was a 'classic police interrogation technique” and that Martin wasn't just a 'passive listener to a heartfelt confession.”

However, in a dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Edward Mansfield said a defendant volunteering incriminating statements to another inmate isn't automatically deprived of his rights simply because that inmate has agreed to cooperate with authorities. Mansfield also pointed to other evidence presented in the case, including several witnesses who placed Marshall at the location where Versypt was killed, gunshot residue found on his jacket and Marshall's statements to police that reveal details about Versypt's death not known to the public.

Marshall was one of three men arrested in connection with Versypt's death. Charles Thompson pleaded guilty to being an accessory to a felony after his 2011 trial for murder ended in mistrial. Courtney White, also originally charged with murder, ultimately pleaded guilty to tampering with witnesses or jurors.