Bad Neighbors

Des Moines Register:

Settlement talks among lawyers representing all the parties began this morning as Huscher was scheduled to consider the disbursement of about $7.5 million from the sale of 745 acres of farm land that had been owned by Heemstra in Hancock and Wright counties. Another court hearing had been set for Friday involving the sale of 465 acres off farm land near Milo in Warren County for about $3.5 million. That hearing has been postponed.
Heemstra, now 52, killed the unarmed Lyon with a single shot to the head on Jan. 13, 2003, in rural Warren County using a .22-caliber rifle he had kept in his pickup truck. The incident occurred after the two men had engaged in a running argument over Heemstra’s purchase of a rural Milo farm that Lyon had used for feeding his cattle. Both men were well-known and established farmers and the slaying shocked people in the tightly knit Milo area. More than 1,000 people attended Lyon’s funeral at First Assembly of God in Indianola.
Heemstra confessed to authorities, telling investigators the friction between the two men had escalated to the point that Lyon had blocked the roadway in front of him that ill-fated morning as he drove behind him. Heemstra claimed Lyon got out of his vehicle to confront him and his first reaction was to take the rifle out of his truck. He contended Lyon taunted him, daring him to use the rifle. Heemstra later claimed Lyon had lunged at him and his actions were in self-defense.
After the slaying, Heemstra chained Lyon’s body to his pickup truck and dragged it to a field, where he hid it in a 12-foot deep cistern under hay bales. Hundreds of people joined search parties before the body was found.
Heemstra was originally convicted of first-degree murder and was given a life sentence, but his conviction was overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court. He was tried again and convicted of voluntary manslaughter and was freed in 2008 after serving four years in Iowa’s prison system.

I'm not surprised there have been a spate of civil suits in this case.  Four years in jail for murder?  A murder over land ownership and cattle watering equipment?  I may get mad at the neighbors once in a while, but I'll try not to get that mad.