AP/Lang
10/13/22
The husband of a University of Iowa health care administrator pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in her 2019 stabbing death. Roy Browning Jr. had been facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of his wife, JoEllen Browning, but he agreed to plead guilty to the reduced charge a month before he was set to go to trial. His plea will mean a prison term of 50 years with a requirement that he serve 70% of the sentence before being eligible for parole. Browning is 70.
Police had arrested Browning months after he reported finding his 65-year-old wife unresponsive on her bedroom floor in their Green Mountain Drive home.
JoEllen Browning had been a budget director at University of Iowa Health Care.