The Iowa Court of Appeals has rejected a former Burlington car salesman’s bid to overturn his conviction for terminating a pregnancy.
In 2011, Chad Welsh was sentenced to eight years in a federal prison on child pornography charges. When his DNA was entered into a database — it matched the DNA on evidence in a 2007 murder. Angela Hennes of Davenport — the murder victim — was more than five months pregnant when she was strangled. Her burned body was found on a Scott County farm.
In 2012. Welsh was sentenced to life in prison on a first degree murder charge, plus another 25 years for termination of a human pregnancy without consent. Welsh appealed, complaining his lawyer was ineffective and there was insufficient evidence to conclude he “recklessly” ended the woman’s pregnancy.
The court of appeals — in a short, two-page ruling — rejected Welsh’s argument.
Welsh is still in a federal prison in Missouri, serving out his federal sentence on the pornography charge before he’ll be transferred to an Iowa prison.