Former jurors dismissed over racial concerns

By Peggy Senzarino, Mason City Globe Gazette

FORT DODGE, Iowa — A new trial date has been set in the case of a Northwood man accused of first-degree murder.

Tyrone Washington Jr., 41, of Northwood will now stand trial at 9 a.m. July 7 in Webster County District Court in Fort Dodge for the 2013 stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend Justina Smith, 30, also of Northwood.

The trial was set to begin on May 11. It was moved to Webster County on a change of venue due to the lack of African-Americans in Worth County. Washington is African-American.

On Tuesday as jury selection was scheduled to begin, District Judge Colleen Weiland dismissed the panel of potential jurors summoned to hear the case saying the nearly all-white panel prejudiced the defendant’s possibility of getting a fair trial.

Smith’s body was found near a tree in Northwood’s Swensrud Park on Aug. 5, 2013.

He allegedly fled the scene in Smith’s Pontiac Grand Prix. Authorities captured him hours later in Scott County following a chase through corn and bean fields along Interstate 80.

Washington is being held in the Worth County Jail under a $500,000 bond.