A man facing second-degree murder charges for a June 2020 shooting in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood is asking the court to dismiss the charges, arguing that the state has violated Iowa law requiring an indictment to be filed against a defendant within 45 days of his arrest.

James C. Davis Jr., 36, of Fort Dodge, was arrested on a material witness warrant on July 2, 2020, and held in the Webster County Jail until he was charged months later on Nov. 10, 2020.

He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, a Class B felony, and one count of felon in possession of a firearm, a Class D felony, after a deadly shooting in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood on June 16, 2020.

Two Fort Dodge men, 25-year-old Jamael Cox and 47-year-old Tyrone Cunningham, were killed in a volley of bullets in the early morning hours of June 16. Two others, Marissa Andrews, 21, of Fort Dodge, and Jayne Barton, 30, of Wesley, were injured but survived.

After a five-month investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies, five men, including Davis, were charged on Nov. 10, 2020. Since then, three of the men have seen their charges dismissed by the state, and weapons charges filed in place.

In a motion to dismiss filed by Davis’ defense attorney, Davis argues that the material witness proceeding was “a sham undertaken in bad faith with the true purpose of commencing punishment of the defendant” and “to bring future criminal charges against the defendant.”

Defense attorney Jason Carlstrom wrote that during a bond review hearing on the material witness held on Sept. 11, 2020, counsel for the state “explicitly revealed” that Davis was going to be charged.

Iowa law requires that an indictment, otherwise known as trial information, be filed against a defendant within 45 days of arrest.

Carlstrom further argues in his motion that the state refused to take the defendant’s testimony in order to secure his testimony, which “further articulates the state’s effort to simply hold the defendant for future charges.”

“The conclusion is, therefore, unavoidable that July 2, 2020, is the date the defendant was arrested for the purposes of charging the defendant with crimes and for the punishment of those alleged crimes,” Carlstrom wrote.

Carlstrom also argues in his motion that the state’s case does not satisfy the elements of the crimes charged. The motion reveals that the murder weapon was a “high-powered rifle.” During depositions, state’s witnesses have testified “clear and consistent” that Davis was not the person who fired the rifle, and that someone else fired it. The witnesses have also been “clear and consistent” in identifying the shooter, that they did not know of any plan to shoot anyone by anybody and that the person who started the shooting “did so completely unilaterally and without discussing any intent to commit the crime with any of the state’s witnesses.”

Davis could not have aided and abetted in a crime that no one knew was imminent, Carlstrom argued.

District Court Judge Adria Kester will hear arguments on this motion during a hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 16.