(Des Moines)– The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld murder and kidnapping convictions of Ryan Wedebrand.
Wedebrand…who was 16 at the time…was convicted of kidnapping and first degree murder in the 1997 abduction and death of Gregory “Sky” Erickson of Estherville.
Justices rejected Wedebrand’s arguments that his legal counsel was ineffective. Wedebrand claimed his lawyers failed to advise him of the consequences of being tried as an adult. The justices say Wedebrand was adequately warned by the U-S Attorney’s Office and county attorneys that he would be tried as an adult if he rejected a federal plea offer.
Wedebrand was among those charged in the June 6th, 1997 abduction, assault and death of Erickson, who was 15 years-old at the time.
Wedebrand was a member of an Estherville gang known as “Los Krazy Boyz”.
Under the state’s theory, Erickson was kidnapped and murdered by members of the gang over a disputed drug debt.
Erickson was abducted from a Spencer apartment and driven to a rural location where he was bound, gagged and repeatedly beaten. Erickson was then placed in the trunk of the car and driven to an abandoned farmhouse near Petersburg, Minnesota where he was shot to death.
Prosecutors said Wedebrand shot Erickson in the hip after Luis Lua fatally shot him in the head.
