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Muscatine man charged with first degree murder

A man has been charged with first degree murder after another man died from injuries he sustained during an altercation in Muscatine.
Jose Tapia photo from Muscatine County Jail

A man has been charged with first degree murder after another man died from injuries he sustained during an altercation in Muscatine.

On Friday, August 22, 2014 Jose Antonio Tapia, 27, was charged with first degree murder, announced Muscatine County Attorney Alan Ostergren. According to trial information, Tapia is accused of murdering Michael Lee Newman on August 8, 2014.

Previous reports indicate that Tapia was involved in an altercation with Newman in the front yard of a home in the 400 block of Peachtree Street in Muscatine, Iowa on Friday, August 8.

Ostergren said Newman had been hospitalized after the incident and later died from his injuries, on August 20.

“The trial information further alleges that the killing was willful, deliberate, and premeditated,” Ostergren said.

Tapia was arrested on August 11, on unrelated drug trafficking offenses, Ostergren said. The next day, Tapia was charged with attempt to commit murder and willful injury. That charge has been superseded by the first degree murder charge.

Tapia was held in the Muscatine County Jail on $300,000 cash bond. If convicted, he faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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