Attorneys agree to move back Dykstra murder trial

Attorneys on both sides of a nearly 5-year-old second-degree murder case have agreed to push back the trial.

Iowa City attorney Leon Spies, who is representing Brian D. Dykstra, the former Iowa City man accused of killing his infant son, and Assistant Johnson County Attorney Anne Lahey filed a joint motion to continue on Thursday.

Dykstra was scheduled to go to trial on May 10, but has waived his right to a speedy trial.

According to police, Dykstra, now of South Carolina, was home alone with his adopted son, Isaac, on Aug. 13, 2005. Police received a 911 hang-up call from Dykstra’s residence and called back. Dykstra reported the boy was having trouble breathing and was seizing.

First responders found Isaac on the living room floor. The boy was unconscious and taken to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where he was diagnosed with massive brain swelling, severe bleeding inside the skull and retinal hemorrhaging. He was declared brain dead Aug. 14.

Police said Dykstra’s version of the events was inconsistent, but he wasn’t charged until August, 2008, when police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation concluded their suspicious death investigation.

According to the joint motion, the three-year investigation involves more than 130 witnesses, 40 of which are listed in the minutes of testimony. Eleven physicians, the state medical examiner and a retained expert will testify as to whether Isaac’s cause of death was undetermined or non-accidental, according to the document.

The motion states the defense has obtained a preliminary opinion from a renowned pediatric forensic pathologist that indicates Isaac’s death was accidental.

“Given the complexity of the factual and medical issues arising from the investigation and allegations against the defendant, additional discovery remains to be completed by both parties,” the document states.

Dykstra’s new trial date has not yet been set.