The court has accepted a plea from the last of three men involved in a robbery that ended with a local man being shot and killed earlier this year.
Court records implicate Steven Etzen, 27, as being the one who pulled the trigger in the apartments above Center Street Station the evening of Feb. 6.
The victim, 39-year-old Benjamin Benda, died the next day from the gunshot wound to the head at the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City.
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Etzen
Etzen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Friday morning after all three men initially pleaded not guilty following their arrests.
His co-defendants, Thomas Vaughn, 28, and Shawn Doehler, 23, are both awaiting sentencing. Vaughn pleaded guilty in March. Doehler accepted a plea later that month, according to court records.
Police apprehended all three men in Clarke County the day after the shooting.
The second-degree charge removes premeditation from the crime and bumps the charge down from a Class A felony to a Class B felony. Etzen could face up to 50 years in prison.
Marshall County Sheriff's Office will transport the men for sentencing Sept. 10 beginning with Doehler at 1:30 p.m. followed by Vaughn then Etzen.