Farmer convicted of shooting neighbor seeks new trial
Posted: Monday, June 06, 2005
DES MOINES (AP) -- A Milo farmer convicted of shooting a neighbor to death wants the Iowa Supreme Court to grant him a new trial.
Rodney Heemstra, 46, was found guilty last Oct. 22, is an inmate at the Anamosa State Prison. He is serving a life sentence for gunning down neighbor Tom Lyon in 2003.
In court documents, Heemstra says he didn't get a fair trial because he was denied access to Lyon's medical records.
He said the records, sealed by Judge William Joy during the trial, would have shown that Lyon had uncontrollable anger that contributed to the shooting. Heemstra claims that he acted in self defense.
Heemstra alleges that Lyon, 52, was being treated for the problem within months of the shooting.
"The court will have to balance between a person's right to privacy and a defendant's right to a fair trial," said Paul Rosenberg, Heemstra's lawyer in Des Moines.
Prosecutors, who ask the court to deny Heemstra a new trial, noted the judge examined the records behind closed doors "and determined they contained nothing relevant to the defendant."
Investigators said the shooting on a rural road was the result of a long-standing feud over farmland and other issues. Lyon was shot once in the head.
Heemstra dragged the body behind his pickup truck, and buried it in a cistern on property he owned about a quarter mile from the shooting.
Rosenberg argues in the appeal documents that the judge's instructions to the jury on felony murder were flawed and unfairly swayed jurors against Heemstra.
He said there was no evidence the shooting involved willful injury, an element of felony murder.
"If a group of gangsters went to somebody's house to break his legs and then killed him, then that's pretty clear you've got willful injury that resulted in murder," he said. "But, pointing a firearm at another person is not willful injury."
Prosecutors contend the jury instruction didn't hurt Heemstra's defense "because he has always acknowledged he shot Lyon."
A civil trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 1 in Indianola to determine if Lyon's estate can collect monetary damages, said Don Beattie, lawyer for Lyon's estate.
"Obviously it will be in the millions for actual damages and for punitive damages I would have to believe it would be multiples of that," he said.
Rodney Heemstra, 46, was found guilty last Oct. 22, is an inmate at the Anamosa State Prison. He is serving a life sentence for gunning down neighbor Tom Lyon in 2003.
In court documents, Heemstra says he didn't get a fair trial because he was denied access to Lyon's medical records.
He said the records, sealed by Judge William Joy during the trial, would have shown that Lyon had uncontrollable anger that contributed to the shooting. Heemstra claims that he acted in self defense.
Heemstra alleges that Lyon, 52, was being treated for the problem within months of the shooting.
"The court will have to balance between a person's right to privacy and a defendant's right to a fair trial," said Paul Rosenberg, Heemstra's lawyer in Des Moines.
Prosecutors, who ask the court to deny Heemstra a new trial, noted the judge examined the records behind closed doors "and determined they contained nothing relevant to the defendant."
Investigators said the shooting on a rural road was the result of a long-standing feud over farmland and other issues. Lyon was shot once in the head.
Heemstra dragged the body behind his pickup truck, and buried it in a cistern on property he owned about a quarter mile from the shooting.
Rosenberg argues in the appeal documents that the judge's instructions to the jury on felony murder were flawed and unfairly swayed jurors against Heemstra.
He said there was no evidence the shooting involved willful injury, an element of felony murder.
"If a group of gangsters went to somebody's house to break his legs and then killed him, then that's pretty clear you've got willful injury that resulted in murder," he said. "But, pointing a firearm at another person is not willful injury."
Prosecutors contend the jury instruction didn't hurt Heemstra's defense "because he has always acknowledged he shot Lyon."
A civil trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 1 in Indianola to determine if Lyon's estate can collect monetary damages, said Don Beattie, lawyer for Lyon's estate.
"Obviously it will be in the millions for actual damages and for punitive damages I would have to believe it would be multiples of that," he said.
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