- Oct 28, 1999
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Phyllis Nelson's lawyers question 1st-degree charge
By Elizabeth Kutter
The Gazette
Monday, July 22, 2002, 11:26:16 PM
CEDAR RAPIDS -- Attorneys for Phyllis Nelson are asking a judge to review the first-degree murder charge filed against her in the stabbing death of her husband.
The motion reveals that Dr. Richard Nelson, 54, was killed with a paring knife in the early morning hours of Dec. 12.
Phyllis Nelson, now 55, is accused of stabbing her husband, executive dean of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine at the time of his death, at his apartment in Cedar Rapids.
Dr. Nelson died at St. Luke's Hospital later in the morning of a single knife wound to the heart. The Nelsons were in the process of divorcing.
The state contends Nelson murdered her husband during the commission of a forcible felony, one way of supporting a charge of first-degree murder.
Nelson's attorneys argue that a forcible felony did not occur. To be classified as a forcible felony, a dangerous weapon must be used, said Jerald Kinnamon of Cedar Rapids, a member of Nelson's defense team.
Kinnamon said a knife with a blade of less than 5 inches is too short to be considered a dangerous weapon under Iowa law.
Nelson's attorneys want Judge Thomas Horan to review the trial information (charges made by the state) against the minutes of testimony (evidence the state has) to determine whether there is enough evidence to support a charge of first-degree murder.
"We are asking the judge to clarify the issue," said Kinnamon.
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The attorney want's the charges reduced because the parry knife's blade is too short!!!!
By Elizabeth Kutter
The Gazette
Monday, July 22, 2002, 11:26:16 PM
CEDAR RAPIDS -- Attorneys for Phyllis Nelson are asking a judge to review the first-degree murder charge filed against her in the stabbing death of her husband.
The motion reveals that Dr. Richard Nelson, 54, was killed with a paring knife in the early morning hours of Dec. 12.
Phyllis Nelson, now 55, is accused of stabbing her husband, executive dean of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine at the time of his death, at his apartment in Cedar Rapids.
Dr. Nelson died at St. Luke's Hospital later in the morning of a single knife wound to the heart. The Nelsons were in the process of divorcing.
The state contends Nelson murdered her husband during the commission of a forcible felony, one way of supporting a charge of first-degree murder.
Nelson's attorneys argue that a forcible felony did not occur. To be classified as a forcible felony, a dangerous weapon must be used, said Jerald Kinnamon of Cedar Rapids, a member of Nelson's defense team.
Kinnamon said a knife with a blade of less than 5 inches is too short to be considered a dangerous weapon under Iowa law.
Nelson's attorneys want Judge Thomas Horan to review the trial information (charges made by the state) against the minutes of testimony (evidence the state has) to determine whether there is enough evidence to support a charge of first-degree murder.
"We are asking the judge to clarify the issue," said Kinnamon.
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The attorney want's the charges reduced because the parry knife's blade is too short!!!!