Trial date in Kasemeier First Degree Murder case now scheduled for January 29, 2025

A brief administrative hearing was held via video conference in Allamakee County District Court Monday, August 19 for the sole purpose of setting a jury trial date in the First Degree Murder case of Brandon Kasemeier, the 40-year-old man from Waukon charged in the January 21 death of his estranged wife, Jami Kasemeier. After about a 10-minute hearing held via Zoom web-conferencing software, that trial date has now been scheduled for January 29, 2025.

Hosting the video conference hearing from the judge’s chambers at the Allamakee County Courthouse in Waukon, First Judicial District of Iowa Judge Alan Heavens also suggested a pretrial conference be scheduled prior to that new jury trial date, with all parties in agreement to schedule that pretrial conference for Monday, January 13, 2025 at 10 a.m. The January 29, 2025 jury trial date will begin at 9 a.m. in Allamakee County District Court, with jury selection slated to take place that day as the initial step in that trial process.

With the administrative nature of the August 19 hearing, it was not deemed necessary to have Kasemeier in attendance at the hearing, but he was represented by half of his newly-appointed defense team, Raya Dimitrova of Carr Law Firm, P.L.C., by video conference from her Des Moines location. Dimitrova and Erin Carr were appointed to represent Kasemeier at a July 1 review hearing in Allamakee County District Court after Kasemeier’s previously appointed public defender, Aaron Hawbaker of Waterloo, filed a motion to withdraw as legal counsel for Kasemeier following what Hawbaker described as “a serious breakdown in the attorney-client relationship” between he and Kasemeier.

Hawbaker had filed that motion June 18, following ensuing discussions with his client after Kasemeier had withdrawn a plea of guilty to Murder in the Second Degree in the case at a June 10 hearing in Allamakee County District Court. In that motion document filed in Allamakee County District Court, Hawbaker cited a phone conversation with Kasemeier of more than 30 minutes that June 18 morning, noting later at the July 1 review hearing that his conversations with Kasemeier since his June 10 plea withdrawal had “devolved to the point where I think the critical factor in representing anybody... trust... went away, for whatever reasons.” Judge Heavens had confirmed with Kasemeier that the attorney-client relationship he had with Hawbaker had broken down, and that he would like a different attorney to represent him.

CASE HISTORY
Kasemeier had originally entered a written plea of not guilty March 11 of this year to the initial charge of Murder in the First Degree in the case after the January 22 discovery of his wife’s body in his Waukon residence and his coinciding journey by vehicle to Colorado, where he was arrested by Larimer County, CO Sheriff Department deputies within 24 hours of that discovery made in his home in Waukon. He was extradited back to Allamakee County in mid-February and has been held in the Allamakee County Jail since, with an original jury trial date of May 15 of this year having been scheduled on the charge of Murder in the First Degree.

However, a Motion for Further Proceedings was filed April 19 on behalf of Kasemeier by Hawbaker “for the purpose of a change of a plea and sentencing as the parties have reached an agreement,” according to court documents. Those court documents indicated that an agreement had been reached in the case to a change of plea by Kasemeier from not guilty of Murder in the First Degree to guilty on charges of Murder in the Second Degree.

In response to that motion and proposed plea agreement, the original May 15 jury trial date was canceled and Judge Heavens scheduled a plea and sentencing hearing for Kasemeier for May 20. Prior to that May 20 date, Hawbaker filed a request for transport April 22 to allow Kasemeier to continue a dental procedure in Iowa City that had begun in late 2023, with a motion for continuance then filed by Hawbaker May 6, citing a need for additional time to meet with Kasemeier. June 10 was then set as a new hearing date for the plea agreement and sentencing of Kasemeier on Second Degree Murder charges.

At that June 10 hearing, Judge Heavens denied the request for transport for Kasemeier’s dental work, after which Kasemeier requested a brief meeting with his attorney. After that brief meeting, Hawbaker advised the court that Kasemeier would no longer be changing his plea to guilty on charges of Murder in the Second Degree, resulting in the original charge of Murder in the First Degree remaining in place and a jury trial date again needing to be determined.

The previously mentioned July 1 hearing where Kasemeier received new legal representation also included the setting of the review hearing that took place Monday, August 19. Further details of the January 13, 2025 pretrial conference and the January 25, 2025 jury trial date scheduled during that August 19 hearing will be further determined as those dates approach.