A former Iowa City insurance agent will stay behind bars for a 1979 first-degree murder conviction. Governor Tom Vilsack has denied Robert Kern’s clemency request. Kern, who’s 56, was convicted of hiring someone to kill a friend in order to cash in on the forged, 50-thousand dollar life insurance policy he took out on him. Members of the Board of Parole interviewed Kern and say he shows no remorse for the crime and has not accepted responsibility for the death of Ady Jensen, a University of Iowa plumber. Kern will stay in the Anamosa state prison. Kern’s wife, Judy, is also serving life for the crime in the women’s prison in Mitchellville.
