No amended charges have been filed yet in the death of a Freeport man

Posted: Tue, Sep 4, 2018 11:27 AM

18-year-old Dalton Adam of Waukon and 17-year-old Jacob Seelinger of Decorah remain in custody in the Winneshiek County Jail, still charged with attempted murder in the death of 46-year-old David Hansen of Decorah.

Hansen died on Friday morning, which could lead to amended charges against the two suspects. There is no deadline for changing the charges against the two, however.

Prosecutors could theoretically issue any of four amended charges.

"First degree murder" is defined by Iowa law as killing another person with express or implied "malice aforethought," which is basically a conscious intent to kill or cause great bodily injury to another person. "Second degree murder" is defined as murder which does not fit the category of 1st degree murder, which in most cases means killing another person without "malice aforethought."

The charges theoretically also could be changed to either voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. Iowa Code defines voluntary manslaughter as "caus(ing) the death of another person, under circumstances which would otherwise be murder, if the person causing the death acts solely as the result of sudden, violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a person and there is not an interval between the provocation and the killing in which a person of ordinary reason and temperament would regain control and suppress the impulse to kill."

"Involuntary manslaughter" is defined as when someone "unintentionally causes the death of another person by the commission of an act in a manner likely to cause death or serious injury."