The Iowa Court of Appeals has denied a request for a third trial for a central Iowa man convicted of hiring someone to kill his wife’s lover.
Vernon Huser of Ankeny was convicted of first-degree murder in 2010 for hiring a man to kill Lance Morningstar because Morningstar had an affair with Huser’s ex-wife Deb.
The Iowa Court of Appeals ordered a new trial saying impermissible “hearsay” testimony was allowed in the first trial. Huser was found guilty a second time in December of 2013. He appealed again saying the prosecutor got around the rules to allow hearsay evidence into the trial, and there is evidence that the man who killed Morningstar had his own reasons to want to kill him.
The Court of Appeals upheld the second conviction 2-1, finding the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the evidence and did not make errors that would have prejudiced the case.
See the full ruling here: Huser ruling PDF