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The weeklong attempted murder trial of Dewey Perdue ended on Friday, Aug. 14 with the 12-person jury finding him not guilty on all counts.
Perdue, 70, of Marshalltown, was arrested in Bondurant in Sept. 23, 2025 after being considered at-large and wanted in connection to the Sept. 20, 2025 shooting of two people - Jose Arrendondo and Juan Lopez.
He was charged with two counts of attempted murder, one count of willful injury causing serious injury and one count of willful injury causing bodily injury.
Attorney Jessica Donels, one member of Perdue's defense team along with Carly Scott, said it only took the jury two hours to reach the verdict.
"Dewey, his defense team and his family are grateful the jury gave him justice in this case," Donels said. "He is looking forward to resuming life as normal and celebrating his 51-year anniversary with his wife."
Arrendondo was shot seven times with bullets striking his stomach, hand and foot, while visiting Lopez's residence, which was next door to Perdue's. According to trial testimonies, Lopez and Arrendondo were drinking and working on vehicles in the driveway. Perdue asked them to turn the music down, a complaint he had previously made to the Marshalltown Police Department a few times in the six years living next door to the Lopez household.
Lopez asked Perdue to come onto his property. The encounter turned violent when Lopez punched Perdue in the face, knocking his glasses off his face. In Lopez's testimony, he said Perdue was standing too close to him.
Several social media comments regarding the trial brought up self-defense since Perdue was not the person who initiated. According to Donels, self-defense is "messy."
"It is often difficult, after the fact, to determine how the altercation went down and who started it," she said. "Very rarely in life are things black and white, and so it is unsurprising that many people who exercise their right to defend themselves wind up being charged."
After the verdict, Marshall County Attorney Jordan Gaffney emailed the T-R, responding to questions by stating he does not participate in interviews regarding specific cases.
"To comply with my responsibilities under the Iowa Rules of Professional Conduct and respect the privacy of the people involved in criminal prosecutions," he wrote.
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.