NASHUA (AP) — An appeals court has overturned the life sentence given to a Charles City man suspected of killing a retired Clarksville grocer but convicted of weapon-related charges.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports the Eighth District U.S. Court of Appeals ordered Friday that Randy Patrie be resentenced.
Patrie was suspected in the 2012 death of Carl “Ken” Gallmeyer, who was found dead in a rural Nashua home.
Investigators later found guns, tools and a TV owned by Gallmeyer in Patrie’s home.
Federal prosecutors charged Patrie with weapons crimes because his criminal record prohibited him from handling firearms. In 2014, Judge Linda Reade sentenced him to life because of his prior convictions.
Patrie challenged the sentence, and his argument was aided by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling dealing with Iowa’s burglary laws.