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A Webster County District Court judge has dismissed a Fort Dodge man’s petition to withdraw the weapons pleas resulting from a fatal shooting in June 2020 in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood.
Darrell L. Jones, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of intimidation with a dangerous weapon and two counts of firearm possession as a criminal on June 25. His conviction was originally scheduled for August 2, but has been extended several times.
In a motion for an arrest judgment filed last month, then defense attorney Stanley Roush wrote that Jones believed the Iowa Department of Corrections had a “silent politics” to treat any firearm accusation more severely as a crime of violence and because Jones was not made aware of this alleged policy, his plea was not conscious and voluntary. Jones also argues that his plea was not conscious and voluntary because he was not told at the plea hearing that any of the charges are a forced felony.
District Court Judge John Flynn heard arguments for the motion on Monday and issued his ruling dismissing the motion on Tuesday.
Flynn found that because the crime of assault is no longer a lesser offense than the crime of intimidation with a dangerous weapon, the charge of intimidation is not a forced crime.
Flynn also found that Jones’ original guilty plea was made knowingly, willfully and intelligently, dismissing the motion for a stay of judgment in its entirety.
Jones will be sentenced on November 15.
Jones was initially taken into custody on June 24, 2020, under a major witness warrant relating to a shooting a few weeks earlier in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood that left two dead and two women injured.
Two men from Fort Dodge, Jamael Cox, 25, and Tyrone Cunningham, 47, were killed in a volley of bullets in the early morning hours of June 16, 2020. Two others, Marissa Andrews, 21, of Fort Dodge. , and Jayne Barton, 30, of Wesley, were injured but survived.
Jones, along with four other men, was charged with two counts of second degree murder on November 10. He was also charged with one count of possession of a firearm as a criminal.
The state ultimately dismissed Jones’ two murder and weapon charges in April, citing information gathered through depositions that led prosecutors to believe the charges could not be proven at trial by out-of-court evidence. of any reasonable doubt.
Jones was then charged with two counts of intimidation with a dangerous weapon and one count of felony in possession of a firearm on the same day.
He faces up to five years in prison for each of the three counts he pleads guilty to, as well as fines of up to $ 7,500 for each count.
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