Gibbs, 28, of Fort Dodge, was convicted of shooting and killing Shane Wessels, 32, also of Fort Dodge, in the early morning hours of Sept. 3, 2017, in Pleasant Valley.

Gibbs had argued that he shot Wessels in self-defense after he said Wessels assaulted his sister, Latricia Roby. However, prosecutors argued that a group of women had assaulted Wessels prior to the shooting and Gibbs left the scene before returning with a gun and firing at Wessels.

At Gibbs’ sentencing hearing Friday, three victim impact statements were read to the court.

One of those statements was written by Kendra Wessels, Shane Wessels’ mother.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Kendra Wessels reads her witness impact statement Friday morning in Webster County District Court during the sentencing for Levi Gibbs III who was convicted in the shooting death of her son, Shane Wessels.

Kendra Wessels tearfully and quietly read from her letter, talking about the impact the shooting has had on everybody’s lives.

“Levi, not only have you hurt Shane’s family, you have hurt your family as well,” she said. “Now your kids will have to grow up without a father.”

She also said her granddaughter will grow up without a father physically present, but Wessels said her son will be there in other ways.

“She will have an angel watching over her,” Wessels said.

She described her son as someone who loved everybody he came into contact with.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Levi Gibbs III makes a brief statement to the family of murder victim Shane Wessels Friday morning during his sentencing hearing in Wessels shooting death.

“He loved his grandparents very much,” Wessels said of her son. “He loved in his heart that got pierced by the bullet that took his life. Now in heaven, Shane will still be watching over his family and friends. Shane will never leave.”

Wessels spoke directly to Gibbs, saying that she knows members of his family, and that they have also been hurt by the entire situation.

“All this (expletive) is just wrong,” she said. “I’ve seen so much pain in your mother’s eyes.”

“Your mom and I have cried and prayed a lot for each other,” Wessels added. “We cry and pray a lot for our families.”

Wessels went on to say that she doesn’t hate Gibbs.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Kaia Smith, the sister of shooting victim Shane Wessels, reads her victim impact statement in Webster County District Court Friday morning during the sentencing hearing for Levi Gibbs III.

“Levi, I can’t hate you,” she said. “I have to forgive you. Otherwise, I can’t move forward.”

Shane Wessels’ sister, Kaia Smith, read another victim impact statement.

She described getting the phone call from a nurse at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center telling her she needed to get to the hospital immediately because her brother had been shot.

Smith asked the nurse if her brother was alive.

“No, ma’am, I’m sorry,” she recalled the nurse saying. “He’s not.”

“My world went dark,” Smith said. “I have never in my life felt pain, hurt, sadness and sickness” like the one’s she felt at that moment.

She told Gibbs she hopes he never has to feel the pain she felt that day.

Smith went on to describe that once she saw her brother’s body, it truly hit her that he was gone.

“Getting me to leave the emergency room was a struggle,” Smith said. “I didn’t want to leave Shane there all alone. I wanted him to know I was there and that I’d never leave him, just like he always told me.”

Smith said telling her 6-year-old son that Wessels was dead was “numbing,” and said that Wessels loved both of her children.

“I hate you for thinking you had the right to put my brother’s life in your hands,” Smith told Gibbs.

She told Gibbs that she watched him throughout the entire trial and that he had “no emotion, no remorse, no tears.”

Smith also said Gibbs was not defending anyone when he shot Wessels. Multiple witnesses said during trial that Wessels had been assaulted by multiple women armed with a bottle of alcohol, a stun gun and a club.

“These are not actions of people defending themselves,” Smith said. “These are the actions of scum.”

Gibbs briefly spoke prior to sentencing. He turned to Wessels’ family and spoke directly to them, telling them he apologized “for everybody’s pain.”

“I want to say my heart goes out to the Wessels family, my family and everybody in this courtroom,” Gibbs said. “And I’m sorry for everything that happened.”

District Court Judge Thomas Bice, who has been the presiding judge over the entirety of the case, shared a few words before sentencing Gibbs.

He called the case “a very unfortunate tragedy, set of circumstances for all involved.”

“And as has been mentioned in the victim impact statements, and to which this court agrees, it’s time to heal,” Bice said. “And I know that’s a tall order, given the circumstances.”

During the trial, Bice said he could see and feel the sorrow and anguish from both the Wessels and Gibbs families.

“We can’t go backwards,” he said. “The only thing we can hope for is healing. And it will require all of us to re-evaluate our attitudes, say a prayer, and hopefully move forward in a positive manner. I ask of that of all of you.”

Turning to Gibbs, Bice said he had reviewed the pre-sentence investigation report prior to Friday, and said what stood out to him the most was the fact that Gibbs had previously served time in federal prison.

“Part of that incarceration was due to the fact that you were prosecuted and found guilty of crimes related to being a felon in possession of a firearm,” Bice said. “In other words, you’ve been down this road before.”

The judge further said he had no discretion in sentencing, and by law had to sentence Gibbs to the maximum 50 years in prison.

“But I want you to know, in no uncertain terms, that if I had discretion and the opportunity to show leniency in this case, it wouldn’t happen,” Bice said. “You went back to your car. Got that gun, that Beretta, that 9mm, and you came back and you shot Shane Wessels. That’s murder.”

Following sentencing, Ryan Baldridge, first assistant Webster County attorney, issued a written statement.

In that statement, Baldridge expressed his sympathies to the Wessels family.

“It is always unfortunate that we meet such fine people in such terrible situations,” Baldridge said. “We appreciate the support and confidence they showed to us during the investigation and prosecution of this case.”

He also expressed “extreme gratitude and gratefulness” to all who helped in the investigation and prosecution, “to the members who came forward, told the truth and testified in this case, even when it wasn’t comfortable, convenient or even safe for them to do so.”

Multiple witnesses during the trial said they did not want to be testifying, and one said she only showed up because she had been subpoenaed.

“We routinely remind the public that we can only do our jobs effectively with the cooperation of our community,” Baldridge said. “This case is a fine example of that cooperation working and our system of justice operating as it should to bring perpetrators of violent crime to justice.”

Peter Berger, of Des Moines, Gibbs’ defense attorney, said he plans on appealing the conviction.

Berger said there are two issues at work here, and one of them is challenging the constitutionality of the state’s Stand Your Ground law.

“The AG (attorney general) argued on rebuttal the jury instruction that a person has to go in and confess to a shooting or they violate the law,” Berger said. “The issue is going to be whether that’s against the Fifth Amendment. In this case, he was shot at, after his defense was coming in defense of his sister.”

Defense witness Preston Mosley admitted in court that he fired at Gibbs after Gibbs had shot Wessels.

The other issue, Berger said, is the mandatory sentencing. The mandatory sentence on second-degree murder is 50 years in prison, with a 35 year minimum sentence before being considered for parole.

“Second-degree murder, he’d have to serve 35 years, which is six years longer than (Gibbs) has been alive,” Berger said. “If the jury had come back with voluntary manslaughter, that’s a 10-year sentence.”

Berger said the jury doesn’t know the penalties of the convictions they’re deliberating.

“There’s a lot of people, including some police, that feel that the judges should have more discretion in these mandatory sentencing cases,” he said. “I agree with that. Now, it’s not to say the judge wouldn’t give the same sentence, but in many states, the judges have more discretion, and in Iowa, they don’t.”

In addition to his sentence, Gibbs must also pay $150,000 to Wessels’ heirs. Bice also issued a no-contact order between Gibbs and the immediate members of Wessels’ family that lasts for five years.

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