(Radio Iowa) – This is National Donate Life Month and Iowans are being reminded to check the organ donor box when they first get or renew their drivers licenses. Registered Nurse Deb Thielan, at Van Diest Medical Center in Webster City, says this month is designed to educate people about the importance of organ, eye and tissue donations. “There are 565 Iowans on the list needing organs at this time,” Thielan says. “Every 10 minutes, a new person is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.”

From that national waiting list, there are 20 deaths every day. Thielan also notes, some 74-hundred lives are saved across the country every year through what are called “living donations.” “It’s an alternative type of donation for individuals waiting for an organ transplant from a deceased donor,” Thielan says. “It takes place when a living person donates an organ or part of an organ for transplantation to another person. That’s something to think about. It usually involves a single kidney, part of a liver, a lobe of a lung.”

She encourages everyone to sign up to be donors. “Don’t rule yourself out based on your age or what your current medical conditions may be,” Thielan says. “At the time of death, a medical assessment is completed and they will review all of the past medical history, factors that led up to the death, and they are the ones who will determine eligibility.”

The Iowa Donor Network partners with more than 120 hospitals and hundreds of E-M-S, medical examiners, hospice, and long-term care facilities to maximize the number of lives saved through organ and tissue donation.

iowadonornetwork.org

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled against a 74-year-old Audubon man who was convicted of 3rd Degree Sexual Abuse of a female child. In their decision filed today (Friday), the High Court denied a judgement appeal and sentence for John Charles Donahue, who contended the district court erred by prohibiting his trial counsel from cross-examining the complaining witness about another allegation of abuse made by the witness. Donahue also claimed the district court submitted an erroneous jury instruction, and the verdict was not supported by sufficient evidence. When the court of appeals decision was affirmed, Donahue asked the State Supreme Court to review the case.

Donahue’s first trial ended with a hung jury and a mistrial. According to court records, Prosecutors in Iowa alleged Donahue committed third-degree sexual abuse against a person referred to in documents as “T.G.”   The incidents took place from July 31, 2014 through August 26, 2016, in Audubon County. After reviewing the case, the SUPCO concluded the district court did not abuse its discretion when it prohibited Donahue from questioning the victim about an incident in Carroll, and that the district court was not in error, when it submitted certain instructions to a jury. The Justices said also, “Based upon our review of the record, we conclude there is sufficient evidence to support Donahue’s conviction of sexual abuse in the third degree. As a result, we see no basis to disturb [his] conviction.”

(Radio Iowa) – The two prisoners charged in the murders of a nurse and guard at the Anamosa State Prison were both formerly held in the Woodbury County Jail. Twenty-eight-year-old Michael Dutcher, of Sioux City, and 39-year-old Thomas Woodard of Union, Nebraska are each charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and second-degree kidnapping in the Tuesday killings. Woodbury County Chief Deputy Tony Wingert remembers issues, Dutcher. “He was a problem inmate. With Dutcher, his actions made us more heightened, we would have extra officers escort him. He is in our computer numerous times while incarcerated for incidents — for acting out, for fighting for disobeying rules, for just being anti-social,” according to Wingert. “He was somebody we knew we had to be extra cautious around, because of what he was going to do.”

Wingert says the deaths at the Anamosa prison are a grim reminder that jail staff deal with dangerous inmates every day. “It’s a tragedy, it just shows how fast something can happen. No matter if you think you are doing everything right — something can change in the blink of an eye,” Wingert says. “And unfortunately with a tragedy like this, it does make our staff take a step back and go ‘alright I’ve got to up my game even higher.”

The D-C-I says Dutcher and Woodard struck and killed registered nurse Lorena Schulte and correctional officer Robert McFarland with a hammer when they tried to stop them from escaping. Dutcher and Woodard served time in Woodbury County on several robbery and theft charges. Wingert says Dutcher was in the Woodbury County Jail after a bank robbery in Holstein where he had a gun. And another gun was stolen.

Dutcher was taken to Anamosa in May of 2015 to serve a 50-year sentence for first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery, and other charges. Woodard arrived at Anamosa in 2017 for a 25-year sentence for first-degree robbery and burglary. Both now face life in prison if convicted of the murders.