A Council Bluffs man will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his roommate in 2008. Forty-eight-year-old Randy Cue was motionless after Fourth District Court Judge Timothy O’Grady declared the man had received a fair and impartial trial and imposed the sentence Tuesday.
Under Iowa law, first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. The judge also ordered Cue to pay $150,000 to the estate of his victim. Cue’s attorney, Frank Robak, says he will file an appeal. On September 20th, a jury found Cue was guilty of killing his friend and roommate, 51-year-old Rodney Deville, on March 24, 2008, in the home they shared with Cue’s mother.
Witnesses said Cue had received a cash settlement from the Social Security Administration and spent the day celebrating. Later that night, while Cue and Deville were home together, Deville called a friend. About 15 minutes later, he called 9-1-1, asking for help. Cue was leaving the house as his mother, Florence Cue, arrived home.
Inside, she found Deville suffering from wounds that would become fatal. Cue was arrested outside a friend’s home in Omaha early the next morning. He was wearing blood-soaked socks. Tests later determined the blood belonged to Deville.
By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic