Rodney Heemstra was convicted of first degree murder for the killing of Tom Lyon in January of 2003. Rodney Heemstra and Tom Lyon were both Iowa farmers trying to buy the same piece of land. Heemstra ended up purchasing the land but at the time Lyon was still living on the land and the relationship between the two became strained. Witnesses testified that Lyon had made several threats toward Heemstra in the events leading up to the murder.
In January of 2003 both men were driving down the same country road when Lyon stopped his truck blocking off the road. An argument ensued which lead to Heemstra pulling a rifle from his truck and then shooting and killing Lyon. Heemstra then made an attempt to hide Lyons body in a near by cistern. At first Heemstra denied any wrong doing to the police until they found evidence linking him to the murder which he then admitted to committing.
Even though there was absolutely no evidence to prove that there was premeditation on Heemstra’s part he was convicted of first degree murder. In order for there to be a charge of first degree murder premeditation must be proven unless the felony murder rule can be used. The felony murder rule states that any murder that takes place during a felony is automatically a first degree murder. In this case the pointing of the gun at Lyon was called a felony and used to convict Heemstra of first degree murder.
Now I would say that this case is definitely not a case of pure self defense because of the actions of Heemstra after the killing and comments that he made to the police after he was arrested like “I shot a defenseless man”; but it’s obviously not a case of first degree murder either. If this becomes the rule of law any murder case could be made into a first degree murder case and the distinctions between the different types would become pointless.
