Iowa Judicial Building
The Iowa Court of Appeals has ordered new trials for two men convicted of second-degree murder in the mob beating death of a Des Moines man in a downtown parking lot in 2013.
The Appeals Court found that James Shorter and Yarvon Russell did each individually participate in the group attack on 40-year-old Richard Daughenbaugh. But the court says there is not evidence to prove that the attack on Daughenbaugh was pre-planned by the crowd. The Appeals Court says it is unclear if the jury convicted the men based on the planned attack — known as the joint criminal conduct theory — or based on the individual attacks where they struck and kicked Daughenbaugh, so a new trial is required.
The Appeals Court ruling comes after the Iowa Supreme Court issued a similar ruling for a third man — Kent Tyler the third — who was also convicted in Daughenbaugh’s death.