DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new trial for a Dubuque man sentenced to 50 years in prison on a second-degree murder conviction for the death of his girlfriend.
Fontae Buelow, 28, claimed Samantha Link turned a knife on herself after an argument in March 2017. Prosecutors alleged he stabbed her and charged him with first-degree murder. A jury convicted him of second-degree murder in January 2018.
The court’s ruling upholds an Iowa Court of Appeals decision last year that threw out the conviction because the trial judge did not allow information about Link’s prior suicide attempt and mental health records that may have supported Buelow’s contention that Link, who was 21 when she died, stabbed herself. State prosecutors appealed that decision.
The court’s ruling on Friday was unanimous, with six justices agreeing and one not participating.
The court said medical records that speak to Link’s state of mind, diagnosis and treatment can be presented by the defense. The court also said testimony on previous suicide attempts from a few years before “are clearly relevant to the question of whether she took her own life or was killed by Buelow.”
It ordered the case sent back to the district court for a new trial.
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