Lang
5/8/21
Two inmates accused of murdering a pair of workers at the Anamosa State Penitentiary will have separate trials.
That ruling came down from Judge Fae Hoover during a hearing in Jones County on Friday.
28-year-old Michael Dutcher and 39-year-old Thomas Woodard Jr. are both charged with first-degree murder and other counts in the March 23rd slayings of nurse Lorena Schulte of Cedar Rapids and correctional officer Robert McFarland of Ely. Authorities say the workers were assaulted with hammers and killed during a failed escape attempt. Both inmates were serving time for armed robbery convictions at the time of the killings. If convicted on the murder charges, they each face life in prison.
Disciplinary records show that Dutcher had threatened to assault staff at another prison a year earlier using a different maintenance tool. He testified that he picked up a mop wringer and threatened to use it as a weapon to attack correctional officers at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center at Oakdale in Coralville. Dutcher’s threat came during an outburst in which a judge said he engaged in “very dangerous actions” that included charging into several officers on a stairway.