Thomas

A non-jury trial has been ordered and scheduled for Sept. 3, 2025 for Robert Thomas.

Convicted of first-degree murder, Thomas asked the court for a new trial through post-conviction relief, three years after being sentenced to life in prison, plus another 25 years for attempted murder.

Thomas, 40, formerly of Marshalltown, is asking for his convictions to be vacated, which means the court would dismiss the case and he would be free of the penalties. Thomas was found guilty in 2021 of shooting and killing 22-year-old Johnqwez Lewis and seriously injuring 27-year-old Devonte Brooks in an apparent drive-by on the north side of Marshalltown in March 2020.

During the 2021 trial, the prosecution argued Thomas committed the murder as retribution for the killing of his brother, Blake Thomas. Mustafa Muhammad was convicted of the first-degree murder of Blake Thomas in November 2021, and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In Thomas’s application for post-conviction relief, he claimed the state withheld evidence, he had inadequate counsel and certain evidence was not allowed during the trial.

Thomas wrote the reasons he believed his attorney was not adequate, included:

Minutes of testimony were not requested from the state;

Proper objections were not made to some evidence being admitted;

Thomas was not informed about the difference between a jury trial and a judge trial and thus could not make an intelligent decision;

An investigation was not conducted into whether or not Judge John Haney had other state employees who were biased;

A change of venue was not discussed;

Thomas was not advised on his right to testify during his trial and;

For not arguing the state’s evidence was insufficient.

For the trial, Thomas hopes to secure expert witnesses regarding firearms, video evidence and fingerprinting.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com