An Iowa wrongful death attorney has seen first hand the impact that such an event can have on families and loved ones left behind. Achieving fair compensation for damages inflicted on the survivor family is the main goal of these lawyers. It is difficult work to manage these cases, but essential for the experience needed to perform the best service to their clients in time of need.
A wrongful death can devastate a family, with excessive bills and loss of income. An Iowa wrongful death attorney will pursue fair compensation for these expenses, and extra awards for survivor pain, suffering, and mental anguish. They can negotiate with insurance companies and defendant lawyers for a just settlement, or take the case in front of a judge or jury for trial.
Bring in your Iowa wrongful death attorney at the first opportunity, and let them handle all the difficult details for you.
Defense witnesses today described slain Milo farmer Tom Lyon as deeply disappointed and angry after fellow farmer Rodney Heemstra purchased a nearby farm Lyon had been renting.
Evan Kibbe, who had been a hired hand on the farm, testified during the final day of a civil trial that Lyon had ranted and raved about problems with water being shut off for his cows after Heemstra had purchased the farm. Heemstra wasn’t scheduled to take possession immediately, so Lyon continued to graze his cows on the land.“I should shoot the son of a bitch and go on,” Kibbe quoted Lyon as saying. He also said Lyon had also talked about acquiring a firearm “to run off varmints” and that Lyon told him the weapon was kept in his pickup truck. Kibbe acknowledged under cross-examination never seeing the firearm.
The defense witnesses testified in the fifth day of a wrongful death case filed by Lyon’s family against Heemstra. The trial ended early this afternoon and Polk County District Judge Michael Huppert gave each side 30 days to submit final written arguments.
He plans to take the case under consideration and will issue a decision at a later date. Huppert has already ruled Heemstra is clearly liable for killing Lyon and that Lyon’s family can seek punitive damages.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A second wrongful death lawsuit against a central Iowa farmer who killed his neighbor and hid the body in a cistern was expected to begin in Polk County.
The lawsuit was filed in Warren County against Rodney Heemstra, of Milo, by the family of Tom Lyon, who was killed in 2003.
Heemstra was released from prison last week after serving more than four years. He was originally convicted of first-degree murder. The Iowa Supreme Court ordered a new trial, and Heemstra was convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
The conviction prompted the Supreme Court to review a $11.5 million judgment in a lawsuit based largely on the murder conviction. The high court declared the judgment invalid.
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Fort Dodge, Ia. – Milo farmer Rodney Heemstra, who shot his neighbor in the head after an argument and dumped his body in a cistern nearly six years ago, walked out of prison today as a free man.
Heemstra, 49, wearing a dark coat and carrying a cardboard box with his personal property, headed out the front door of the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility at 7:55 a.m.He was met by a throng of media and offered no comment and expressed no emotion as he quickly paced through the frosty morning air into the prison parking lot. He went directly to a dark four-door Hyundai sedan, put his box in the trunk, got into the vehicle and was driven away from the prison by his wife, Berta Heemstra.
Fort Dodge Warden Cornell Smith said that Heemstra turned in his state property Monday night and packed his belongings. After waking up this morning in his cell, he was allowed an opportunity to shower, then headed to the prison discharge area to get his paperwork before leaving. A correctional officer led Heemstra out of the prison, and Fort Dodge police cars were stationed near the prison parking lot, but he left without incident.
Heemstra spent four years and four months behind bars for the slaying of rural Warren County farmer Tom Lyon, 52, in January 2003. Prosecutors said he killed Lyon with a single rifle shot, then dragged his body more than a mile before dumping it and covering it with hay. He claimed he killed Lyon in self-defense after Lyon lunged at him.
The Iowa Board of Parole twice rejected Heemstra for early release- most recently in May. State officials said they ultimately had no choice about freeing him today because he had served the maximum time possible on his 10-year sentence of voluntary manslaughter – including time off for work and good behavior.
He is not expected to return to rural Warren County, where some Milo residents still harbor deep animosity towards him. Instead, Heemstra is believed to be moving to the Panora area – about 45 miles west of Des Moines – to a single-family home at Lake Panorama with three garage stalls and an assessed valuation of $410,526.
Voting records show Heemstra’s wife, Berta Heemstra, lives in the house, which is owned by Cool Acres LLC, the same limited liability corporation that owns the family’s farm home in the Milo area. The house is near the Lake Panorama National Golf Course.
Joseph Hrvol of Council Bluffs, who is Heemstra’s lawyer, declined to comment on Heemstra’s plans. Guthrie County Sheriff Gary Baird said he was aware of the possibility Heemstra could be moving to the Panora area, but he hadn’t confirmed it.
Heemstra, who killed Lyon after a series of confrontations over land and cattle-watering equipment, was disciplined by prison officials in May after he was accused of threats and intimidation and breaking other prison rules, prison records show.
An administrative law judge ultimately found Heemstra guilty of obstructive and disruptive conduct, attempt or complicity and unauthorized possession, said Iowa prison spokesman Fred Scaletta, who declined to elaborate what happened. He said Heemstra received five days of disciplinary detention, but didn’t have additional time tacked onto his prison term.
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A Des Moines man's bid to have his life sentence for murder vacated will move forward.
Polk County Judge Don Nickerson last week denied a motion by prosecutors in the case of David Flores, convicted in 1997 of killing bank executive Phyllis Davis in a gang-related shootout.
The judge's decision means the 31-year-old Flores, who has spent 11 years behind bars, could have his conviction reconsidered before the end of the year.
It also means Flores' defense will be allowed to proceed with its strongest argument. That argument is based on Des Moines police acknowledging in June that they failed to turn over to Flores' trial attorney an FBI report that pointed to an alternative suspect, Rafael Robinson.Prosecutor Joe Weeg had argued that a newly found police report downplayed evidence of an alternative suspect. But a legal assistant for John Wellman, Flores' original defense attorney who is now deceased, told Nickerson that Wellman never had that police record.
In the ruling last week, Nickerson sided with Flores and denied the state's request for a partial summary judgment.
"We just want the case to move ahead now," said Mary Kennedy, Flores' Waterloo defense attorney.
The high-stakes case is similar in some respects to that of Heidi Anfinson, another convicted murderer who was granted a new trial last week by the Iowa Supreme Court. Like Flores, Anfinson appealed for post-conviction relief, arguing that she received inadequate defense in the drowning death of her two-week-old son Jacob.
Her new defense attorney, Alfredo Parrish, argued successfully that her original attorney, Bill Kutmus, should have submitted evidence of post-partum depression at her trial.
Anfinson lost her post-conviction case at the district and appelate-court levels but won on appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. In a rare move, the Supreme Court ruled that evidence of her mental health problems would have aided her defense.
Experts in wrongful conviction cases have said it's extremely rare for a judge to overturn a murder conviction, but Flores' appeal for post-conviction relief is compelling. As his controversial bid for freedom nears, however, tensions among those with a stake in the case are rising.
Kennedy has said in court that a key witness has been moved several times by the California corrections system, making communication difficult.
A spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections also has acknowledged that Kennedy has been blocked from speaking to another witness, who is behind bars, unless she has a court order.
Corrections spokesman Frank Scaletta said the unusual move was made on the recommendation of the Iowa attorney general's office, which sometimes assists county prosecutors in post-conviction cases.
Last month, vandals shattered the car and house windows of David Flores' mother on East 13th Street.
Diane Flores and other family members said it's possible she could have been a random victim, or targeted for other reasons, but they doubt it.
"We think it's because of David," she said.
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The trial for a wrongful death lawsuit against Hillcrest Family Services has been delayed for the second time because of scheduling conflicts.
The trial is now scheduled for Aug. 11, 2009.
Rodney and Michelle Skadburg, of Mason City, Iowa, brought the suit against Hillcrest after their 16-year-old son, Michael, hanged himself on the Dubuque campus of the treatment center in April 2004. The suit alleged that Hillcrest left Michael Skadburg unattended "in a clearly suicidal state."
Hillcrest denied the allegation, stating the incident was thoroughly investigated by city, county and state officials and the staff were found to be in compliance with all policies and procedures.
The trial initially was slated for January 2008, but a judge bumped it to September for scheduling conflicts. Originally, if the case weren't tried by July 2009, it would have been automatically dismissed, according to court procedure. However, a judge waived the automatic dismissal deadline when attorneys had trouble completing all the depositions for the case in time "because of the geographic location of key witnesses," documents state. Many of the witnesses are now living across the United States.
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Senate leaders modify rescue bill...Asian markets improve...oil prices rise in Asia
Washington (AP) The political wrangling continues as lawmakers tackle the Bush administration's financial rescue bill. The Senate is set to vote on a modified bill Wednesday night. Their version adds tax cuts meant to appeal to Republicans in the House, which rejected the measure.
TOKYO (AP) Most Asian markets have bounced back on hopes that a financial rescue bill will soon win approval in Washington.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index, gained 139.74 points, or 1.24 percent by the end of the morning session. Many markets were closed for holidays.
SINGAPORE (AP) Oil prices have risen to above $101 a barrel in Asia on expectations that U.S. lawmakers will pass a revised bank rescue plan. Traders are still expressing skepticism that a bailout of bad mortgage debt will quickly reverse slowing global economic growth and weakening demand for crude.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A new survey suggests nearly half the workers in America expect to still be working by the time they hit 67 and not just because they'll need the money. Sun Life Financial finds that more than 80 percent of those polled say they want to stay mentally engaged.
BOSTON (AP) There's a settlement in a Iowa wrongful death suit resulting from a tunnel ceiling collapse at Boston's big dig.
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An Iowa family filed a lawsuit Monday, alleging staff members at the UI Hospitals and Clinics caused the death of their daughter, the third lawsuit of its kind this year.
Larry and Janice Kaberle of Rowley, Iowa, alleged in the suit that their daughter, Lisa Kaberle Zahina, died due to "complications of myocarditis" in 2005, only days after she was discharged from UIHC.
The family's attorney, Larry Helvey of Cedar Rapids, wrote in the suit that Kaberle Zahina, 24 at the time, was admitted to UIHC on May 14, 2005, complaining of a headache, chest discomfort, a rapid heart beat, and shortness of breath. She was eventually diagnosed with myocarditis - the inflammation of a muscular substance of the heart.
On July 1, 2005, Kaberle Zahina was allegedly told at a follow-up appointment at UIHC that her myocarditis was resolved.
Three days later, she was admitted to Virginia Gay Hospital in Vinton, Iowa, the lawsuit read, complaining of dizziness, a headache, nausea, and vomiting. She died later that day.
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Lawyers in the CIETC civil lawsuit agreed Thursday on an August 2010 trial date, which sets the stage for at least two more years of legal battles over roughly $1.5 million in taxpayer money allegedly misspent by former job-training executive Ramona Cunningham and others.
"There are a lot of different issues, and there are a lot of people in the case that weren't in the case before," said Leon Spies, attorney for former Iowa Workforce Development executive Jane Barto, one of those accused in the case. "I think the blister continues to fester."
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Lawyers in the CIETC civil lawsuit agreed Thursday on an August 2010 trial date, which sets the stage for at least two more years of legal battles over roughly $1.5 million in taxpayer money allegedly misspent by former job-training executive Ramona Cunningham and others.
"There are a lot of different issues, and there are a lot of people in the case that weren't in the case before," said Leon Spies, attorney for former Iowa Workforce Development executive Jane Barto, one of those accused in the case. "I think the blister continues to fester."
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller's office sued seven former officials of the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium in March to recover at least $1.3 million linked to various CIETC officials. The lawsuit - it also names a former CIETC consultant and former auditing firm Faller & Kinchloe -was filed before April's fraud and conspiracy trial in Davenport.
Jurors in the criminal case found former CIETC accountant Karen Tesdell guilty of 29 charges connected to what prosecutors said was a three-year conspiracy to misspend public money on CIETC salaries.
Barto, a co-defendant, was found not guilty of conspiracy but was convicted of obstructing a CIETC investigation.
Former board member Dan Albritton also was acquitted of conspiracy.
Cunningham, Tesdell, Barto and Albritton all are named in the civil lawsuit, along with former CIETC board chairman Archie Brooks, former executive John Bargman and Bargman's wife, former CIETC consultant Deb Dessert.
Lawyers say Barto and Albritton, despite their acquittals in the criminal case, still face civil liability in a manner similar to legal proceedings against former football star O.J. Simpson. Simpson, acquitted of murder in 1995, later was socked with a $38 million Iowa wrongful death judgment.
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