Justin Hurdel, 44, is on trial for the first-degree murder of Maggie Flint, who was known as Maggie Hurdel during her marriage to the defendant.

Flint died after being shot with a shotgun in a garage at 526 S. 19th St. shortly after 2 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2020. Hurdel was immediately identified as a suspect and was arrested the next morning after a 17-hour manhunt across the city.

Officers transported Hurdel to UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center for treatment of severe soft-tissue injuries to his face and nose that Hurdel would later tell investigators happened in a “botched” attempt to shoot himself.

The trial was moved to Boone County by order of the court in April.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Defense attorney Katherine Flickinger holds up a photo illustrating the door to the garage at 526 S. 19th St. where Justin Hurdel entered on Aug. 5, 2020, during Hurdel's testimony on Wednesday morning.

The Boone County jury had heard three days of testimony from state witnesses since last Thursday when First Assistant Webster County Attorney Ryan Baldridge rested the state’s case on Wednesday morning.

During her opening arguments on June 23, defense attorney Katherine Flickinger told the jury that “accidents happen” and that Hurdel didn’t intend to shoot Flint.

Hurdel had gone into the garage that day, not to kill Flint, but to kill himself in front of her, Flickinger said.

Prior to allowing Hurdel to testify in front of the jury, Flickinger motioned to enter an offer of proof for District Court Judge Christopher Polking in order to have testimony about Hurdel’s previous suicide attempts admissible in front of the jury. With the jury in another room, Hurdel was placed under oath and testified to Polking.

Hurdel testified that he was diagnosed with “bipolar manic depressive” at age 16 and had attempted suicide on two previous occaisions — April 2002 and March 2007.

“Why did you try to kill yourself?” Flickinger asked, referring to the April 2002 attempt.

“I broke up with my girlfriend,” Hurdel answered.

He testified that his March 2007 suicide attempt also had to do with a girl.

Baldridge asked Hurdel how he was treating his bipolar disorder now, to which Hurdel answered that he isn’t treating it.

Baldridge then asked how Hurdel was treating his bipolar disorder in August 2020.

“Self-medicating,” Hurdel said. “Drugs, methamphetamine.”

Baldridge argued that the state was concerned that because Hurdel had not filed a notice to claim diminished capacity or insanity prior to trial — which is required under Iowa court rules — the testimony might confuse the jury.

Polking ruled that Hurdel could testify in front of the jury about his previous suicide attempts, but stipulated that it could not be used to support a diminished capacity or insanity defense, but that it could be used as evidence that Hurdel had a history of attempting suicide after having relationships end.

The jury was allowed to return to the courtroom and Hurdel took the witness stand again.

Hurdel first met Flint 18 years ago, he testified. They started out as just friends, dated “a little bit” and then decided they’d be better as friends. They then started a serious relationship in the summer of 2017 and were married on Jan. 1, 2018.

Hurdel testified that the early days of his relationship with Flint was “amazing.”

“Everything was great,” he said. “We really clicked — it was very effortless.”

But the last few months of their relationship were difficult, Hurdel testified.

In earlier testimony, the jury learned that Flint had filed for divorce from Hurdel on three occasions, the third being in late July 2020.

Hurdel testified that after signing the divorce papers at attorney William Habhab’s office on Aug. 5, 2020, he decided to go to his friend Robert Baker’s home at 526 S. 19th St.

“Why did you decide to go to Bob Baker’s house?” Flickinger asked.

“I went there to get high,” Hurdel answered.

He also admitted to using methamphetamine earlier that day.

Flickinger asked Hurdel if depression was the only emotion he was feeling after signing the divorce papers and why he wanted to use meth at that time.

“I was feeling every emotion I could think of. Turmoil,” he said. “I just wanted to stop feeling.”

Hurdel testified that he didn’t expect Flint to be at Baker’s home. She had been there that day working on her pickup truck with Baker and friend Gary Spencer.

He said he told Flint that he signed the divorce papers that day, and she said “OK” or “thanks,” “like she didn’t really care,” he said.

Hurdel said he left to go to his mother’s house, which was a few blocks away, and that he was crying and upset.

“I decided I was going to kill myself,” he said.

He retrieved a sawed-off shotgun from a shed on the property, put on a coat to hide the gun, and went back to Baker’s, he said.

“I wanted to spend the rest of my life with my wife and I wanted her to see my pain,” Hurdel said.

He testified that he didn’t ever think about shooting Flint, and that he wanted to talk to her one last time about the divorce papers and try to talk her out of the divorce before he took his own life.

Hurdel testified that he returned to Baker’s and waited for Flint and Baker to return from an errand at an auto parts store, and asked Flint to talk to him. He said he asked her if it was possible to save their marriage and she said no and she turned around to walk away.

“That’s when I said, ‘I guess my life’s over,'” Hurdel testified. “I pumped the shotgun across my chest and the gun fired.”

He said he wasn’t trying to shoot Flint and that he wasn’t aiming at her, but she was hit and fell to the ground.

Hurdel continued his testimony, saying he removed the spent shell casing from the shotgun so he could fire it again, this time to take his own life. He said he used a set of plastic stairs located in the garage to help brace the shotgun so he could aim at his head because he didn’t want to make another “mistake” of “not getting the job done.”

This time, when the gun went off, it hit him in the face and knocked him to the ground, but he was not fatally wounded. Hurdel testified that he thought the gun had malfunctioned because it seemed to have “exploded” into pieces. He said he got back up on his feet and fled the scene.

Baldridge’s cross-examination of Hurdel spent much time focusing on Hurdel’s claim that shooting Flint was an accident, though Hurdel never told anyone during the 17 hours he was on the run that it was an accident, and he never told police officers or investigators after he was arrested that it was an accident.

Baldridge also asked Hurdel who helped him during the 17 hours he was running from police. Hurdel admitted that a friend named Jason had picked him up from the location where Hurdel’s Chevrolet Impala was found abandoned on South River Road near the Fort Dodge Water Treatment Plant. He said Jason drove him to an abandoned house behind Kohl’s department store.

Baldridge also questioned Hurdel’s claims of being suicidal. He asked Hurdel why he didn’t try to take his own life when he was in the garage, waiting for Flint and Baker to return.

“You wanted to make Maggie suffer, is that right?” Baldridge asked.

“No,” Hurdel responded. “I just wanted her to see my pain.”

Baldridge asked why Hurdel didn’t try to commit suicide again during the 17 hours before he was arrested, but Hurdel didn’t have an answer.

Baldridge also highlighted statements Hurdel had made during his interview with Fort Dodge Police Department Detective Larry Hedlund on Aug. 6, 2020.

Hedlund had asked, “How long after you shot her did you realize you probably shouldn’t have done that?”

“Immediately,” Hurdel had responded. “I knew I shouldn’t have done it when I did it.”

Under cross-examination from Baldridge, Hurdel said that the statement was in reference to shooting Flint in the back.

Hurdel testified that he had previously been able to get Flint to change her mind about going through with a divorce.

“You weren’t going to let this end Maggie’s way, were you?” Baldridge asked, ending his cross-examination of Hurdel.

“No,” was Hurdel’s response.

“You weren’t going to let it end in divorce?” Baldridge asked.

“No,” Hurdel responded.

Hurdel was the defense’s only witness and at the conclusion of his testimony, the defense rested its case.

The jury was excused for the remainder of Wednesday afternoon as the attorneys were going to confer with the judge to hash out the final instructions to give the jury before deliberations.

Each side will give their closing arguments this morning, and then the jury will go into deliberations until it reaches a verdict.

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