WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A Cedar Rapids man has been given life in prison for killing a Waterloo resident.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that 26-year-old James Ernst II didn’t comment as Judge Andrea Dryer sentenced him Monday in Black Hawk County District Court. On Feb. 26 a jury convicted Ernst of first-degree murder.
Authorities say Ernst fatally shot 23-year-old Orintheo Campbell Jr. in December 2014 following a fight that escalated in a convenience store parking lot.
During the trial Ernst testified that he fired because Campbell had punched him and reached for his waistband. Ernst said he assumed Campbell was reaching for a weapon.
Authorities say Campbell was unarmed.
