From the Associated Press:
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man has been charged with first-degree murder after a deadly shooting at a Des Moines hotel Saturday night. Des Moines Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek said a 54-year-old man was found wounded after the shooting Saturday night, and he died Sunday at a hospital. KCCI reported that the shooting happened in the parking lot of an AmericInn Hotel. Parizek said Eric Lewis Stricklin of West Des Moines was detained at the scene of the shooting and later charged with first-degree murder. The name of the victim was not immediately released Sunday.
GREELEY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 9-year-old girl died in a residential fire in eastern Iowa. The fire was reported just after 3:30 a.m. Saturday in Greeley, located about 60 miles northeast of Cedar Rapids. The caller said there was a child inside the residence. Crews found the body of the girl inside the building. The home is considered a total loss. Fire departments from Greeley, Edgewood, Delaware and Manchester responded to the blaze. The State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Greeley Fire Department are investigating the cause of the fire.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Five teenagers charged with fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy and seriously wounding two teenage girls outside a downtown Des Moines high school last month pleaded not guilty in court filings. The teens were to appear in court Friday, but their hearings were called off when their attorneys filed documents indicating their desire to enter a written arraignment and plea of not guilty. Four of them are 17 and one is 18. They have all been charged as adults with murder and attempted murder. A judge set their trial dates for June 27. They’re among 10 teenagers who were arrested after Jose Lopez was killed March 7 in what prosecutors call a hail of gunfire from the occupants of three cars. His sister and her friend were injured.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court says two restaurants cannot collect damages from insurance policies for losing business following the governor’s March 2020 order requiring restaurants to temporarily stop in-person dining amid rising COVID-19 cases. Jesse’s Embers and Wakonda Club, both in Des Moines, sued after their insurers denied coverage and a judge dismissed their lawsuits. The cases likely serve as a lesson to business owners who believe they’ve purchased all-risk insurance for their business thinking it would cover loss of revenue in all instances. Insurers argued there were no physical aspects to the loss so they didn’t have to pay and the court unanimously agreed.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A check of Iowa’s online court system shows a unique name for the prosecutor in hundreds of cases: The Easter Bunny. The Iowa Capital Dispatch reports that on April 4, online docket sheets for hundreds of Polk County cases were revised to indicate the prosecution had been transferred from an assistant county attorney to “Easter Santa Bunny.” An assistant county attorney says the situation stems from a recent realignment of cases within the county attorney’s office. Some cases were “transferred” to the Easter Bunny until all the work on the digital case transfer could be finished. Lucas says it appears that the Judicial Branch and the IT department decided to use the fake placeholder name.
INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the 2018 shooting death of a Cambridge woman. The Des Moines Register reports that 22-year-old Jaquarious Scoggins was sentenced last week after pleading guilty in January to second-degree murder for the death of 25-year-old Mercedes Wathen. Scoggins must serve a minimum of 35 years before he’s eligible for parole. Scoggins was originally charged with first-degree murder in Wathen’s death. Police have said officers and medics called to a home just south of Des Moines on April 2, 2018, found Wathen’s body. She had been shot in the head.
