Trish Mehaffey

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids teen, after turning down two previous plea agreements, accepted one Tuesday, admitting he planned with three other teens to kill 16-year-old Michael Alexander McCune in 2023.

Appeals court upholds life sentence with 25 year mandatory minimum for Jeremy Goodale in “heinous” killing of Fairfield High Spanish teacher’s with a baseball bat.

Appeals court dismisses one trafficking in stolen weapons conviction for Stanley Donahue, who tried to kill a Linn County sheriff’s deputy during a convenience store robbery in 2021. His other nine convictions were upheld and his sentence remains 92 years in prison.

A former Johnson County emergency management and fire official who was serving a prison sentence for fatally shooting his girlfriend in 2011, died last week. Thomas Lee Hansen Sr., 84, died Jan. 22.

An analysis and comparison of the shell casings and a palm print led police to one suspect in the May 2020 murder and burglaries -- Damontie Lee Haggstrom-Wells, 22, of Cedar Rapids, who was charged in 2023.

A Cedar Rapids teen — accused of planning with three other teens to kill 16-year-old Michael Alexander McCune in 2023 — turned down a plea offer Friday for the second time

Judge sentenced Cedar Rapids mother to 40 years in prison, for what he called “horrendous acts” of child abuse. Her 3-year-old son suffered multiple, repeated injuries, which a medical expert said was “torture.”

An 62-year-old Iowa City man convicted of receiving child porn was sentenced Friday to 6 years in prison. An investigation determined he’d been receiving material since 2001.

Judge will not move trial out of Linn County for Marion man who is charged with killing four people with a metal pipe last summer. His trial is set for April 8.

A 19-year-old Maquoketa man pleaded to theft and conspiracy charges for his participation in the fatal shooting of Michael McCune, 16, of Cedar Rapids, on Feb. 18, 2023. He faces up to 32 years in this case and a separate theft conviction.

A judge has sentenced a Cedar Rapids man who solicited a girl he thought was 15 to three years of probation -- instead of a possible five years in prison -- for the felony.

A new rule prohibits communication between judicial nominating commissioners, who nominate Iowa judges, and the governor until the nominees are sent to the governor for appointment. The State Nominating Commission approved the rule, and it went into effect this week.

Defense for Marion man says a fair and impartial jury can’t be selected in Linn County because the pretrial publicity. The news articles and coverage has reported unsubstantiated information. Prosecution argues news articles have been accurate and reported facts in the case taken from criminal complaints and court documents.

An Iowa City man accused of posing in social media accounts as a University of Iowa police detective -- in retaliation for the detective testifying in campus protesters’ trials -- faces up to two years in jail.

An Iowa City man who orchestrated a check writing scheme was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He would deposit fraudulent checks in others’ accounts and the coconspirators would withdraw money before the checks bounced, records show.