SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) - A judge on Friday ruled that an Iowa man is guilty of second-degree murder for killing his former girlfriend in a hotel room and then setting it on fire.
But District Judge Steven Andreasen ruled 30-year-old Jordan Henry’s drug-addled brain and underlying psychosis prevented him from former the specific intent to kill 40-year-old Elizabeth Bockholt, of Hinton, Iowa, the Sioux City Journal reported.
The ruling spares Henry from a mandatory life-in-prison-without-parole sentence for first-degree murder.
Instead, the Sioux City resident faces 50 years in prison for second-degree murder and 25 years for first-degree arson.
Henry was convicted of strangling Bockholt to death on Jan. 24, 2019 in a Sioux City hotel room. He then set the room aflame to conceal her killing, according to prosecutors.
The judge said Henry’s chronic methamphetamine use and mental illness interfered with his self-control, making it difficult to prove the killing was premeditated.
“Henry likely was not thinking clearly and likely had a diminished ability to control his impulses,” Andreasen wrote.
Henry’s sentencing has not been scheduled yet.
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