Charles City man’s murder trial date rescheduled in Jasper County

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A Charles City man charged with murder in Jasper County has had his trial rescheduled.

Randall Louis Linderman, 52, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jose Luis C. Ramirez Berber, age 61, on March 6 in rural Jasper County. An autopsy report by the state medical examiner’s office determined the cause of Berber’s death was blunt force trauma.

Linderman was arrested in Charles City on July 13 and transported to Jasper County. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

His trial had originally been scheduled for Oct. 18 in Jasper County District Court in Newton, but now has been continued to March 7, 2018. A pretrial conference has been set for February 26, 2018.

Court documents say DNA which matches Linderman’s DNA was found on Berber’s body. Linderman told officials he had been to Berber’s home “a couple dozen” times and had done tree-cutting work there.

Linderman has a long history with the court system. He was sentenced in Floyd County District Court to two years in prison in 2001 after pleading guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon, according to court documents.

He is listed on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for third-degree sexual abuse of an adult female in Floyd County committed in 2001.

Linderman has numerous other charges, convictions and prison sentences as well, including assault causing bodily injury or mental illness, third-degree theft, second-degree theft, possession of stolen property, violating his sex offender registry requirement, tampering with a witness or juror, probation violations and contempt of court charges.