James Breen testified Wednesday that he was intoxicated and doesn’t remember shooting the man he regards as a “brother” with his Tec-9 assault pistol. Breen said it wasn’t his intent to shoot his music “collaborator” and good friend Cory Forbes or to point the gun at Forbes’ cousin Sean Hiepler. It was his habit to [...]

A judge increased a bond Wednesday for a 21-year-old Marion man accused of kidnapping, stabbing and sexually assaulting a woman he met through a social media website in April. Bryan Roche is charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree sexual abuse, attempted murder and an added charge of willful injury causing serious injury. His bond went from [...]

Sean Hiepler testified Tuesday when he and James Breen got into an argument over leaving a bar last year he thought they were going outside to have a fist fight but when they walked outside Breen pulled out an assault pistol and pointed it at his chest. Hiepler, 24, of Mount Vernon, said he thought [...]

James Breen shot another man three times with an assault weapon intentionally, willfully and without cause outside of Rumors Bar and Grill last year, Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said in his opening statement Monday. Breen, 27, shot Cory Forbes, 28, both of Cedar Rapids, with a Tec-9, 9-millimeter semi-automatic pistol twice in the [...]

Police arrested a Marion man they believe sexually assaulted and stabbed a woman found in the stairwell of a southeast Cedar Rapids apartment complex Sunday night. Bryan Roche, 21, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping, sexual abuse and attempted murder Tuesday afternoon. Officers were called around 7 p.m. Sunday to 1627 Second Avenue SE [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS – A 16-year-old is the fourth defendant charged in a drug robbery where one man was seriously injured in January. Kevin Maurice Jones, of unknown address, made an initial appearance Thursday in Linn County District Court and was charged with attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary, according to a criminal complaint. Jones [...]

A second teen has been charged with attempted murder of a 35-year-old man who was shot during a drug robbery at an apartment on the southeast side of Cedar Rapids last month. Keanan Mercer, 18, of Cedar Rapids, was charged Tuesday with attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. He is accused of participating in [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS – A man who stabbed his ex-girlfriend 16 times was found guilty of  lesser charges by a Linn County jury late Tuesday, following a week long trial. Shaheed Pendleton, 33, of Cedar Rapids, originally charged with attempted murder, was found guilty of willful injury causing serious injury, assault with intent to inflict serious [...]

Shaheed Pendleton took the stand Friday in his attempted murder trial and denied stabbing his ex-girlfriend Racquel Truax 16 times in 2011. Pendleton, 33, of Cedar Rapids, told a different version of what happened Oct. 14, 2011 than what Truax told the jury on Thursday. The only thing he agreed with her on was that [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS – Racquel Truax testified Thursday she didn’t know what happened to her Oct. 14, 2011 until she looked down and saw blood drops on the porch. “I could feel blood slowly pouring out of my body,” Truax, 30, formerly of Cedar Rapids who now lives in Georgia, testified during her ex-boyfriend Shaheed Pendleton’s [...]