DES MOINES –A panel of judges from the Iowa Court of Appeals heard arguments on Wednesday afternoon from a Webster City man who was convicted of second-degree murder for the 2018 death of his girlfriend.

During his February 2021 jury trial, Zackery N. Bassett, 35, argued that 50-year-old Andrea Sokolowski was not murdered, but rather died as a result of accidental positional asphyxiation during rough sex. Bassett was facing a charge of first-degree murder, a Class A felony, when a Hamilton County jury convicted him of the lesser-included charge second-degree murder, a Class B felony. In June 2021, District Court Judge Amy Moore sentenced him to up to 50 years in prison.

Bassett is appealing his conviction, making a myriad of arguments, citing juror misconduct and errors of the District Court during trial.

Bassett argues that the District Court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements he made to an Iowa Diviision of Criminal Investigation agent, that the District Court erroneously admitted Sokolowski’s statements into evidence in violation of the confrontation clause, that evidence of the defendant’s previous bad acts should have been inadmissible, that the medical examiner’s conclusions were based in part on reports of a history of domestic violence, and that there is insufficient evidence to support a murder conviction.

Assistant appellate defender Rachel Regenold argued to the appeals court that an incident of juror misconduct in the deliberation room may have influenced the jury’s verdict, violating Bassett’s right to a fair trial.

In a sworn affidavit shortly after the 2021 trial, juror Debra Jordahl admitted to attempting to “recreate the position described by the defendant” with her husband and “was able to breathe no matter the positioning.”

“The results of this experiment at least partially influenced my verdict,” she wrote in the affidavit.

Jordahl also admitted to informing other jurors during deliberation about what she had discovered and that other jurors continued to deliberate after she had disclosed the information.

Also in a sworn affidavit, jury foreperson Tyrone Wohlford acknowledged that he heard a conversation in the deliberation room from a female juror about an experiment she tried with her husband regarding body positioning, but another female juror interrupted and said they should not be talking about that. He then redirected the jurors back to what they were deliberating before the conversation started.

“The conversation the juror brought up lasted only seconds, less than a minute,” he said.

Another sworn affidavit from juror Melissa Vaughn echoed the claim that Jordahl’s statements did not result in further discussion by the other jurors and only lasted a few seconds.

During Wednesday’s oral arguments, Regenold argued that the affidavits from the jurors were “vague” and did not give any evidence that the juror’s comments were harmless.

Assistant Iowa State Attorney General Louis Sloven, however, argued that the affidavits did show that the experiment and the brief discussion during deliberation did not influence the jury’s verdict.

“I think the evidence is pretty clear here, is that they heard that she tried something and then she was immediately cut off,” he said.

Regenold argued that the length of the discussion did not matter because the experiment focused on a “critical issue” of the case — whether Sokolowski was murdered or whether her death was a tragic accident.

Bassett’s appeal has now officially been submitted to the Court of Appeals to consider and make a ruling.

Webster City police and paramedics from Van Diest Medical Center were dispatched to an apartment in downtown Webster City, 639 1/2 Second St., Apt. 1, on Sept. 22, 2018, on a report of an unresponsive female.

The caller, who was Bassett, reported that his girlfriend, Sokolowski, was not breathing.

According to the criminal complaint, “When the ambulance arrived the defendant told the responders that he had awoken and found Sokolowski unresponsive. The defendant said he had called his mom and dad and also performed CPR prior to calling 911. The defendant said he did not start CPR for 15 to 30 minutes, due to calling his dad first. His father confirmed during a recent interview with investigators that the defendant did not call him or contact him on the night of Sokolowski’s death. The defendant said that both he and Sokolowski had been drinking prior to him finding her unresponsive.”

Sokolowski was pronounced dead at the Van Diest Medical Center emergency room in Webster City.

Bassett was arrested on Nov. 14, 2018, and charged with first-degree murder.