Gazette Daily News Briefing, September 7
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for September 7, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service there will be a high of 77 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area Thursday. It will be cloudy through mid morning, then the sky will gradually clear. The wind will be calm all day, with the low dropping down to 52 degrees.
A Linn County jury Wednesday convicted Brandon Lee Nelson for attempting to kill one police officer and pointing a gun at another after leading authorities on a high-speed chase on July 30, 2022.
The jury deliberated more than four hours following four and half days of trial. All jurors were polled, as requested by the defense, and all confirmed the 13 guilty verdicts.
The officers, Blair Klostermann Cavin and Matt Jenatscheck, who shot and injured Nelson after he pointed and aimed a shotgun at them, were in the courtroom for the verdict, along with a few family members and other Cedar Rapids officers.
Nelson, during testimony Tuesday, said he planned to have the police kill him because he was depressed over a breakup with his girlfriend and didn’t have the “courage” to kill himself. Nelson told the jury he had no intention of killing or harming the officers.
Nelson was hit three times before being downed by police at the scene. He discharged the shotgun once.
University of Iowa police are investigating a body found on campus Wednesday morning, although “the death is not believed to be suspicious.”
Emergency responders were called to the north patio of the Stanley Hydraulic Laboratory on Riverside Drive. at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday on a report of an unconscious and possibly deceased male, according to UI police. When they arrived, responders confirmed the death.
“Based on the preliminary investigation and assistance from the Johnson County Medical Examiner, the death is not believed to be suspicious,” according to police.
The individual, whose name was not released, isn’t a current student or employee, and the incident does not pose a threat to campus safety, authorities said.
Five current and former Iowa and Iowa State student-athletes have pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the state’s investigation into illegal sports betting, agreeing to pay a fine instead of risking jail time, according to court documents.
Current and former Iowa State University athletes Hunter Dekkers, Jake Remsburg and Dodge Sauser, and former University of Iowa athletes Aaron Blom and Gehrig Christensen, all have pleaded guilty to underage gambling.
That charge carries a $645 fine and no jail sentence. Previously, all five had been charged with tampering, an aggravated misdemeanor that can be punishable with a sentence of up to two years in jail.
