The Iowa Court of Appeals has ruled in a case involving a Council Bluffs man who was sentenced to life in prison for trying to kill a “snitch.”

The case dates back to late 2009 when David Maddox and two other men were driving near the Missouri River, north of council Bluffs. Maddox and the man in the back seat dragged the victim in this case down to the river bank. The two men beat the man who they accused of being a “snitch” to cops and took what the victim had in his pockets, then threw him in the river.

The victim, who had been an informant for the police, rode the river’s current and eventually got out of the river and walked nearly two miles in sub-freezing temperatures to a Council Bluffs convenience store for help. Maddox was convicted of first degree robbery, attempted murder and first degree kidnapping.

He appealed, saying there wasn’t enought evidence to convict him on the kidnapping charge. The Iowa Court of Appeals has affirmed the kidnapping conviction, but decided Maddox was guilty of third degree rather than first degree kidnapping. First degree kidnapping carries a life prison sentence; while the maximum sentence for third degree kidnapping is 10 years.

Maddox did not appeal his attempted murder or robbery convictions. When Maddox and his accomplice in this case were arrested in December of 2009, they were tracked to a house in Omaha. A nearby school and King Science Center in Omaha were locked down while the arrests were made.

(O.Kay Henderson/Radio Iowa)