Iowa Judicial Building. (RI photo)
The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of an Iowa City man who killed another man in a failed attempt to commit suicide.
Investigators say Stephen Lucore drove his car the wrong way at a high rate of speed on I-80 in Johnson County in 2019. He hit another car head-on, killing a man from Texas and injuring three other passengers. Lucore was found guilty of second-degree murder, and willful injury. He says he was only trying to kill himself, and the evidence didn’t show he had the specific intent required to uphold the murder and injury convictions against him.
The Court of Appeals ruling says LuCore knew the method he chose to try and kill himself would include people in the other vehicle — and his actions would lead to serious or fatal injury to them. Which the court says provides sufficient evidence of malice aforethought in the convictions.
Here’s the full ruling: State v Lucore PDF