An 87-year-old serving a life sentence for a Christmas Eve murder in 1970 has died in prison of natural causes. State officials say Robert Overstreet Sr. died Friday at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison.
Five decades ago, a jury found him guilty of second degree murder. On Christmas Eve, 1970, Overstreet fought with another man at Freeman’s Tap in Davenport, shot the man three times, dropped the pistol and ran out of the bar. Overstreet initially told detectives someone else fired the shots. At his trial, Overstreet said he fired the gun in self-defense. Overstreet was sentenced to life in prison.
He appealed that sentence, on a second degree murder conviction, but in 1976, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the sentence.