-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Justin Hurdel, 45, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of his estranged wife, Maggie Flint. Hurdel was convicted by a Boone County jury on July 1.

Maggie Flint meant a lot of different things to different people in her life and in the community.

“But one thing she was not, was a victim,” Flint’s daughter, Justice Flint-Bozeman, said while giving her victim impact statement in court on Monday afternoon at the sentencing hearing for Justin Christopher Hurdel.

“I am in awe at the amount of all the love and time my mom gave to others,” Flint-Bozeman said.

Hurdel, 45, was convicted July 1 by a Boone County jury for the August 2020 murder of Flint, his estranged wife. It took just two hours of deliberation for the jury to reach its verdict.

A first-degree murder conviction in Iowa carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Hurdel was also ordered to pay $150,000 in victim restitution to Flint’s estate.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Justice Flint-Bozeman, daughter of murder victim Maggie Flint, addresses defendant Justin Hurdel, during Hurdel's sentencing hearing on Monday afternoon. Hurdel was convicted of Flint's murder in July.

Flint, who was 38 when she died, was shot by the defendant with a sawed-off shotgun in a garage at 526 S. 19th St. on the afternoon of Aug. 5, 2020. She had been in the garage, which was owned by her friend Robert Baker, to work on her pickup truck, when Hurdel, 44, came and told her he had signed their divorce papers that morning.

After a few moments of arguing, Hurdel left and went to his mother’s house, a few blocks away. Flint and Baker also left to go to an auto parts store to pick up some parts for Flint’s truck.

Hurdel testified during the trial that he was hurt by Flint’s lack of a reaction to hearing he signed the divorce papers and he decided he was going to kill himself in front of her. It was the third time Flint had filed for divorce from the defendant, whom she married on Jan. 1, 2018.

When Hurdel returned to the garage a short while later, Baker and Flint had not yet returned, so he went into the garage and waited. After Baker and Flint returned, Flint and Hurdel talked for a few minutes before Hurdel shot her in the back, witnesses Baker and Gary Spencer testified.

Hurdel then removed the spent shotgun shell from the firearm and fired again — this time in an attempt to end his own life. The gun reportedly malfunctioned and left Hurdel alive, but with severe soft tissue damage to his face and nose. He then fled, leading local law enforcement on a 17-hour manhunt before he was apprehended on a property just north of Coalville on the morning of Aug. 6, 2020.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Donavon Carter, son of murder victim Maggie Flint, reads a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing for Flint's estranged husband, Justin Hurdel, on Monday. Hurdel was convicted of Flint's murder on July 1.

Hurdel’s trial was moved after an order for a change of venue in April when the court was unable to select a jury from the Webster County jury pool. The trial was moved to the Boone County Courthouse in Boone.

The argument from the prosecution was that Hurdel murdered his estranged wife in cold blood because she had asked for a divorce, escaping their rocky relationship, and did not seem upset when she learned he had signed the divorce papers.

Hurdel’s argument was that he was planning to shoot himself in front of her so she could “see his pain,” but that when he pumped the shotgun, it went off and accidentally hit Flint in the back.

While reading her victim impact statement on Monday, Flint-Bozeman addressed Hurdel directly.

“Justin, you’ll never know real loss, because it only occurs when you lose someone you loved more than yourself,” she said.

Hurdel has a long, documented history of domestic violence, both against Flint and against other past partners.

“Maggie decided she wasn’t going to suffer through her relationship with the defendant any longer and that she was going to do something about what he was putting her through,” said First Assistant Webster County Attorney Ryan Baldridge. “She did what so many victims of domestic abuse often find so difficult — she stood up to her abuser and, sadly, because of the defendant’s actions, she lost her life.”

Flint-Bozeman talked about the difficulty of losing her mother as a young woman.

“I’ve been thrown into a parable I was never prepared for, at 21,” she said. “I can’t call my mom now that I have questions for things like house taxes or credit or just when I need her.”

She also made it clear to Hurdel that she does not have an ounce of forgiveness available to him, noting the recent anniversary of Flint’s death.

“I hope every day in prison is worse than the next,” Flint-Bozeman said. “A year and four days later, this is over.”

Flint’s younger sister, Natalie Nelson, also gave a victim impact statement, choosing to address Hurdel as well.

“I was there the first day she filed for divorce in May 2019. She wanted to rid her life of you and the misery that you had brought her every single day,” Nelson said. “My sister was a wonderful woman with a huge heart of gold.”

“I’m proud of her, though,” Nelson said later. “She fought for her freedom, even after you told her you would kill her if she tried.”

Flint’s son, Donavon Carter, gave the third and final victim impact statement.

“My mom was a very independent person,” he said, describing his mother. “She was always doing something or had a new hobby. She enjoyed woodworking … archery, whittling, fishing and playing her banjo and so many more things.”

Mourning Flint has been hard for Carter.

“I have gone from feeling anger, sadness and feeling numb,” he said. “If not for you, my mom would be here today.”

Defense attorney Katherine Flickinger, of the Story County Public Defender’s Office, objected to much of the content of the three victim impact statements, calling the content “just insults” and “commentary” not allowed in victim impact statements under Iowa Code. District Court Judge Christopher Polking overruled the objection.

“In receiving victim impact statements, the court does not expect them to be written or given as if they were from a novelist or a philosopher or a lawyer or professional speechmaker,” Polking said. “It would be expected that victim impact statements may be emotional, they may be raw.”

Baldridge said he hopes the sentencing will give Flint’s loved ones some semblance of closure.

“While nothing will bring Maggie back for her family and friends, our office is hopeful that this outcome and a resolution, at least as far as the legal system goes, will bring them some peace,” he said. “We hope they find satisfaction knowing that the defendant is right where he needs to be — locked away from any other potential victims within the confines of the Iowa Department of Corrections.”