Burlington, IA- The Iowa Board of Parole has denied a request from one of the five men involved in the 2017 murder of Demarcus Chew. The Hawk Eye reports that the board voted 2 to 1 to deny the release of 32 year old Antione Spann for 10 months. Spann was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to willful injury causing bodily injury conspiracy to commit forcible felony and criminal gang participation in 2019. Spann was one of five men convicted in the 2017 murder of Demarcus Chew in Burlington.
Burlington, IA- One of the men involved in the 2017 murder of Demarcus Chew in Burlington may be re-sentenced to probation. The Hawk Eye reports that the Iowa Supreme Court released an opinion on Friday that 32-year-old Caesar Davidson should have been considered for probation because he was not convicted of a forcible felony. In 2020, Davidson was convicted of assault causing serious injury and conspiracy to commit a forceable felony for his part in Chew's murder. The Supreme Court opinion stated that these offenses did not amount to a forceable felony, and thus Davidson was eligible for probation. A new sentencing hearing for Davidson has yet to be scheduled.
The Hawk Eye
Diavontae Davis, accused of first-degree murder in the Sept. 8, 2019, shooting death of Reynaldo Rey Villarreal, took the stand in his own defense Tuesday, telling jurors he carried a gun with him because of his fear of what Burlington had become. I saw the fluctuation of violence, Davis said from the witness stand in the third-floor courtroom of the Des Moines County Courthouse.
Davis had been a friend of DeMarcus Chew, who was killed Sept. 10, 2017, by a group of men who had intended to collect hit money in exchange for the murder. The father of Davis s sister s child also had been killed in an argument not long prior. Davis did not identify who that was or where his death occurred.
April 16, 2021
Burlington, Ia- One of the men convicted in the murder of Demarcus Chew has withdrawn a plea to have a judge amend his sentence.
The Hawk Eye reports that Derrick Parker informed court officials he no longer wanted to have a judge reconsider his sentence.
Parker plead guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit a forceable felony and willful injury causing bodily injury for his part in Chew’s murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On August 5th, 2020, Parker filed a motion to have the court correct his sentence after claiming his confession was made under duress and that he had been threatened with a life sentence had he not taken the plea.
After several pandemic-related hiatuses, misdemeanor trials have resumed in Des Moines County. They weren t doing any trials in October, Des Moines County Attorney Lisa Schaefer told the Des Moines County supervisors Tuesday during the board s regular weekly meeting.
In March 2020, the Iowa Supreme Court postponed all trials until further notice. Trials resumed in mid-September but once again were put on hold in mid-November. Trials resumed again on Feb. 1.
The courthouse has four courtrooms which normally allow four trials at once. However, with the COVID-19 guidelines, only the third-floor courtroom, which is normally reserved for felony trials, can host trials.
As of Tuesday morning, there were more than 80 cases on the docket for felony court. Schaefer did not say how many cases are on the misdemeanor docket, but she has previously said about 90% of the cases her office prosecutes are for misdemeanors.