Charles City man found guilty of first-degree murder in Newton man’s death

By Orrin Shawl, Courtesy Newton Daily News

A Charles City man has been found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of a man near Newton.

The Jasper County District Court jury deliberated for several hours Tuesday morning before convicting Randy Linderman, 52, of Charles City, of the March 2017 slaying of Jose Ramirez Berber.

Linderman was arrested after officials connected him to the death of Berber last year. Berber was found dead inside of his rural Newton home and a state medical examiner’s report said the cause of death had been blunt force trauma.

Prosecutors argued that evidence proved Linderman was in the area at the time of the murder, knew Berber and knew how to get into his house, and DNA identified as belonging to Linderman was found on Berber’s clothing and on his body.

The defense argued that the evidence was circumstantial, and did not prove that Linderman had committed the acts that led to Berber’s death.

Linderman’s attorneys said a job application to a Sheffield company dated the day of Berber’s death showed Linderman was away from Newton that day, but the person at the company who handled the application said it wasn’t known when it was submitted, and hadn’t seen Linderman at the company that day.

A conviction of first-degree murder in Iowa includes a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Linderman has reportedly resided in Jasper County for the past two years. He is a registered sex offender who was convicted of third-degree sexual abuse in 2001 in Floyd County.

— Contact Orrin Shawl at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or oshawl@newtondailynews.com