Trish Mehaffey

The trial for a Tama woman accused of fatally shooting husband in the face remains on track for July 9 in Linn County. A judge moved the trial out of Tama County as requested by defense. Prosecution didn’t resist.

An owner of a commercial dog breeding farm pleads to five charges of animal neglect and received a year of probation. He surrendered 131 dogs last year.

A friend of one of the women killed last week near Marion says the woman and her boyfriend, also killed, had been evicted from their residence last year and had been living in the outbuilding where they were bludgeoned with a metal pipe. She didn’t know of any connection they had with the accused killer.

Retired Linn County Chief Public Defender Brian Sissel suddenly died of a heart attack this week. Judges, friends, co-workers and court staff fondly remember Sissel as “zealous advocate’ for his clients and being a ‘sincere, positive energy force’ who could lighten the mood with his ‘infectious laugh.’

Shane Teslik was sentenced to 10 years for fatally stabbing Devonna Walker. Walker’s mother said the ‘heartless, racist act of violence has devastated’ her family. She is now caring for Walker’s three children.

A Marion man is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in fatal pipe attack Wednesday in an outbuilding on a Marion property. He is being held on a $4 million cash-only bail pending trial.

An Illinois man who fatally shot a Fareway employee outside the store in Monicello last year pleaded to first-degree murder and was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A judge won’t lower or increase the $1 million bail for a Shellsburg man charged with helping a wife kill her husband in 2021.

A Cedar Rapids surgery center has agreed to pay $125,000 to resolve allegations it failed to maintain accurate records and controls and procedures to prevent theft and misuse of pain medications. The civil allegations stem from a criminal case of a former nurse stealing fentanyl from the center.

Former Clutier city clerk embezzled over $108,000 while employed from 2016 to 2018. She wrote unauthorized checks to herself, deposited residents’ utility payments into her checking account and used the city’s credit card for personal purchases. She was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison following state court theft conviction.

Chief Judge Thomas Bower of the Iowa Court of Appeals will take early retirement in July after serving 31 years on the bench and a total of 38 years in the legal profession. He says it’s time to spend more time with his family, including a new grandchild, and do some traveling.

Shellsburg man accused of helping Traer woman kill her husband in 2021 asked a judge Thursday to lower his $1 million bail because it’s unreasonable. Prosecutor wants it hiked up to $5 million because he believes Danker has access to “large sum of cash.”

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks says prosecutors will file about 25 percent fewer felonies in fiscal year 2024, which is the first time violent crimes have declined since post-pandemic spikes. He noted the office also successfully prosecuted eight homicides in the first four months of the year.

A Marion woman, crying throughout her victim impact statement Friday in Linn County District Court, says she still waits for her 17-year-old son to come home even though she knows he was fatally shot May 10, 2023. Her only son, she said, should be graduating from high school this Sunday.

A Cedar Rapids man is charged with attempted sex trafficking a child under the age of 14. Court documents don’t provide details of the incident and it’s unknown whether the child was from Iowa or another state. If convicted, he faces 15 years and possibly up to life in federal prison.