Breaking News - Posted: 7/12/06
Meyer pleads guilty to 2003 murder
Justin Robert Meyer, 25, pled guilty on July 12 to first degree murder while committing burglary in the death of Mark William Sullivan, 24, in Caledonia on December 8, 2003.
The crime carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Judge James Fabian ordered that the sentence be served consecutively with a life sentence that Meyer received in 2004 in Iowa for first degree kidnapping.
Meyerís attorney, Samuel Jandt, argued for the sentence to be concurrent and not consecutive.
Jandt said that Meyer contacted him on June 29 saying he wanted to resolve the matter soon. That led to a plea agreement with Houston County Attorney Rick Jackson in which four other charges against Meyer were dropped.
The 90 minute hearing in the packed courtroom included emotional testimony from Mark Sullivanís mother and three siblings.
Meyer was found guilty of kidnapping in the first degree on November 10, 2004 in Allamakee County District Court in Waukon, IA. That charge stemmed from the same incident in which he killed Sullivan. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole on November 29, 2004.
The Argus will have a complete story in its July 19 edition.
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