One Fort Dodge defendant charged in the June 16 double homicide in Pleasant Valley is entitled to $5,560 for being held as a material witness nearly five months, a judge ruled Tuesday.

District Court Judge Angela Doyle ruled in favor of Darrell Jones, 23, after he filed a motion arguing for the payment. Jones is one of five defendants charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the killing of Jamael Cox, 25, and Tyrone Cunningham, 47.

They were shot to death in the early morning hours of June 16, 2020. Marissa Andrews, of Fort Dodge, and Jayne Bartrom, of Wesley, were injured in the gunfire along 10th Avenue Southwest.

Jones has been in the Webster County Jail since June 24, when he was arrested on a material witness warrant related to the case. He was not charged until 139 days later in November, when the state brought charges against five men after a months-long investigation spanning multiple law enforcement agencies.

The state filed to dismiss Jones’ material witness hold on Nov. 10, after he was charged. Jones filed a partial resistance to the motion, heard by Doyle on Dec. 14.

In that hearing, Jones’ attorney argued for a payment of $50 per day, citing an Iowa Supreme Court case, State v. McKinney, in which a material witness was confined for 53 days and received payment according to state law. The defendant in that case received $40 per day.

“No evidence is presented to the court as to the basis for this (higher) request,” Doyle said. “Jones merely argues that $40.00 per day was awarded to the McKinney material witness 12 years ago, so he is now entitled to $50.00 per day.”

In ordering the payment, Doyle disagreed with arguments made by Webster County First Assistant County Attorney Ryan Baldridge that Jones had not been impacted financially by the incarceration, a component of the relevant state code. Jones was unemployed at the time of his arrest and had an outstanding arrest warrant in Texas.

The prosecutor argued in December that Jones’ confinement was necessary based on multiple failed attempts by law enforcement to contact him and his failure to meet with a detective as agreed.

Baldridge also argued that since the exact amount was not specified by Iowa code, that the court had the discretion to set the fee as $0 per day. He also asked that, should the court award any payments, they be first granted to the Webster County Sheriff’s Office to cover jail fees.

Defense attorney Stanley Roush said conflating a material witness hold to criminal charges would be inappropriate and could possibly amount to a violation of the defendant’s right to a speedy trial.

“We question whether the material witness hold was for the purpose of charging (Jones) in the future,” Roush said at the December hearing, conceding that he couldn’t prove that.

“Jones has suffered a degree of inconvenience in this case,” the judge said. “His wife was injured during the shooting involving the double homicide and (the) defendant was unable to help care for her as a result of his detention.”

Doyle declined to address the payment to the Webster County Sheriff’s Office for jail fees, saying the issue “is not properly before the court.”

Another defendant in the double homicide case, James C. Davis Jr., was also held as a material witness for several months before he was charged.

“I do not anticipate any issues as a result of this ruling in the actual criminal prosecution of (Jones),” Baldridge told The Messenger Friday.

Baldridge declined to comment on Davis’ case.

Iowa code stipulates that jurors in court receive $30 per day as compensation for their service and witnesses receive $10 for each full day’s attendance.