Iowa's highest court has reversed course on a case that hinged on where a sheriff's deputy sat during a murder trial, reinstating a second-degree murder conviction tied to a fatal 2022 shooting at Rico's bar in Des Moines. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that having a deputy stationed near the witness stand during the defendant's testimony did not violate his right to be presumed innocent, overturning a lower appellate decision that had ordered a completely new trial.
The case centers on the killing of Tyrone Hutchins, who was shot to death at Rico's bar in 2022. According to Radio Iowa, the defendant said he was acting in self-defense when he shot Hutchins. A jury instead convicted him of second-degree murder, a verdict he then appealed on the grounds that a sheriff's deputy seated near him during his testimony had undermined jurors' ability to presume him innocent.
That argument initially worked. The Iowa Court of Appeals sided with the defendant, vacating the conviction and sending the case back for a new trial. The appeals court opinion, hosted by CourtListener, found that “no such reason appears in this record” to justify the security measure, and ordered the conviction vacated and the case remanded.
Supreme Court Reverses the Reversal
The Iowa Supreme Court took a different view. Under the district court's policy, a deputy would be seated in the corner of the courtroom near the witness stand during the defendant's testimony, according to the Iowa Supreme Court opinion hosted by CourtListener. The justices concluded that measure alone did not taint the proceedings.
“We have no specific reason to believe that this particular security measure would have stood out and branded the defendant as guilty in the eyes of the jury,” the court wrote, according to the same opinion. The justices further held that absent a showing of actual prejudice, the jury's verdict should be upheld, language drawn directly from the ruling.
With that reasoning, the Supreme Court vacated the Court of Appeals decision outright. The opinion also vacated a district court sentencing provision that had required victim-offender dialogue, but otherwise affirmed the judgment against the defendant, per the same court filing.
A Name Discrepancy in the Record
Reporting on the case has not been entirely consistent on one key detail. Radio Iowa's account of the ruling identifies the man convicted in Hutchins' killing as Marcell Wiggins. The Iowa Supreme Court opinion, however, identifies the defendant in the case as James Wiggins, and states plainly that “Marcell Wiggins and James Wiggins are brothers,” according to the same CourtListener-hosted filing.
Separately, the Des Moines Register has reported that Marcell Wiggins was not charged in Hutchins' death. The discrepancy between the two names tied to the case remains unresolved in the available record.
Part of a Broader Courtroom Security Fight
This is not the first time Iowa's appellate courts have wrestled with the question of deputies positioned near defendants during trial. Back in May, the Iowa Court of Appeals had ordered a new trial for a Las Vegas man convicted of second-degree murder based on the same kind of security setup in a Polk County courtroom, according to an earlier Radio Iowa report on that decision. That May ruling appears to be the same appellate decision the Supreme Court has now vacated.
With the Court of Appeals decision wiped away and the underlying judgment affirmed, the second-degree murder conviction in the Rico's bar shooting stands, apart from the sentencing provision the Supreme Court separately struck down.
