Home News Monday Afternoon News, August 13th

Monday Afternoon News, August 13th

Des Moines Police Won’t File Charges In Latest Shooting

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Des Moines authorities don’t expect to file any charges in connection with this weekend’s fatal shooting because the victim was violating a court protection order and assaulting a man.
Police said 32-year-old Joshua James Wheeler died after the Saturday night shooting. Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek says prosecutors determined the shooting was done in self-defense.
The shooting took place in the doorway of the home of a woman who is a former domestic partner of Wheeler’s.
Police said the incident started after the 25-year-old woman and a 27-year-old male friend of hers discovered that a tire on the man’s car had been slashed. Wheeler arrived and assaulted the man, who warned that he was carrying a gun.
Police said the man had a permit for the gun.

 

 

 

Man Charged With Murder Says He Will Cite the “Stand Your Ground” Law As Defense

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A man charged with murder says his actions in an Urbandale bar fight are protected by Iowa’s “stand your ground” law.
The Des Moines Register reports that a judge has set a hearing for Aug. 20 to consider the motion filed for 49-year-old Rodney Henricksen. He’s pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the Jan. 18 death of Joshua Sadlon, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
The motion says Henricksen was defending himself from an intoxicated and aggressive Sadlon. Henricksen told three people at the bar that Sadlon had threatened his life. The law says a person doesn’t have to retreat before using deadly force if he or she reasonably thinks his or her life is being threatened.
The motion says Henricksen was entitled to use reasonable force to preemptively strike at Sadlon to avoid injury to himself.

 

 

Inmate Has Died In Correction Facility

CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a man convicted in a 1996 northeast Iowa slaying has died in a state prison facility.
The Iowa Corrections Department said Monday that Robert Richey died of natural causes at 9:40 a.m. Sunday at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville. He was 74.
Richey had been housed there because of chronic illness.
He was sentenced to life in prison after his conviction for the shotgun killing of a Garner city councilman, Don Larkin Jr. Authorities say Larkin had been dating Richey’s former wife.

 

 

Petitioners Save Park

SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (AP) – Residents in northwest Iowa have banded together to save their local park.
Jon Anderson and his neighbors recently petitioned to save the Oak Hills park in Sergeant Bluff. The move led to the City Council deciding not to get rid of the basketball hoops in
the park. The city also agreed to help write a grant for new playground equipment.
Anderson says there was plenty of interest in the park. He says the group secured 118 signatures.
Anderson believes showing the City Council that residents were
passionate about bettering the neighborhood is what made the difference.
Anderson has planned a community day to clean up the pocket park Aug. 19.

 

 

Attorney Pleas Not Guilty Of Embezzling From Client’s Estate

CRESCO, Iowa (AP) – A northeast Iowa attorney accused of looting a woman’s estate has pleaded not guilty. Howard County District Court records say 56- year Todd Kowalke entered a written plea Friday to a theft charge. The criminal complaint filed against him says he took more than $35,000 from the
estate of a woman who died in 2009 and used it for gambling and for business and personal expenses. The complaint also says he’s promised to repay all the money.