The defense is expected to rest today in the double-murder trial of Jonathan Lee Memmer in Iowa City. The Marshalltown man is accused of killing two women whose bodies were found in a burned Iowa City apartment. Memmer took the stand in his defense yesterday. He admitted he broke into the apartment in March of 1999 and stole a stereo but says he didn’t kill the occupants. Memmer denied using gasoline to set the bodies on fire to hide the evidence.
Memmer testified he only briefly saw one of the victims, Laura Dalton, on March 17th of 1999, and never met the other woman, Maria Lehner. Prosecutors got Memmer to admit he lied to some witnesses about various things, like some people thought they saw a burn mark on Memmer’s nose.
Memmer explained his nose got scratched playing basketball. Also, he denied boasting about the killings to cellmates while awaiting trial. Memmer says he told them he was in for violation of probation.
As for claims Memmer knew too many details about the murders early in the investigation, he said he was just repeating talk he’d heard in Iowa City bars. Closing arguments should come tomorrow.