IOWA CITY -- A Johnson County jury deliberated nearly four hours Tuesday before finding Renard Winfield Jr. guilty of first-degree murder for carrying out what the prosecution called a revenge plot where he posed as a woman to lure an Iowa City man to his death.
Winfield, 32, of Gary, Ind., faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting Tommy Curry, 31, of Iowa City, on April 28, 2021. His trial started Dec. 3 in Johnson County District Court.
Winfield showed no visible emotion after the verdict was read.
The defense asked 6th Judicial District Judge Jason Besler to poll jurors about the verdict to confirm it was unanimous, which he did.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 7 in Johnson County District Court.
The prosecution rested Monday afternoon and the defense rested Tuesday without calling any witnesses. Winfield chose not to take the stand in his defense, which is his right.
Assistant Johnson County Attorney Jeffrey Brunelle, in his opening statements last week, said Winfield shot Curry as an act of revenge after Curry allegedly shot and injured Winfield in June 2020 -- though no one was arrested in that incident because Winfield wouldn't identify his shooter.
Winfield fired 15 bullets at Curry's sport utility vehicle while he was in parked in the Meadow Lark Apartment Complex, 2740 Lakeside Dr., in Iowa City, waiting for his "date," according to testimony. Police found 12 bullet holes in Curry's SUV.
Dr. Dennis Firchau, a Johnson County medical examiner and associate professor of pathology at the University of Iowa, testified last week Curry died from a gunshot wound to his chest. Curry also had gunshot injuries to his left arm, left hand, head and scalp.
The bullet that hit Curry's chest penetrated his left lung, heart and coronary artery, Firchau said. It also damaged his right pulmonary artery, right lung and then entered the soft tissue of his back. The injuries caused "massive" hemorrhaging in Curry's chest cavity, which likely caused his death, he said.
According to trial testimony, numerous text messages and emails were exchanged between Curry and Winfield -- posing as a woman -- on an online dating site. Prosecutors said the fake emails were used to lure Curry to his death.
Iowa City Police Det. Mike Smithey, who is certified as an expert witness in cellphone extraction and analysis, said both men used online accounts under pseudonyms. But investigators tracked the data information back to both men's phones and learned Winfield posing as a woman contacted Curry through an online dating site, Plenty of Fish.
Winfield made the video of himself loading the gun just after he purchased the ammunition. Using cellphone data, Smithey determined the video was made in the parking lot outside the store.
Smithey also testified Winfield's internet activity revealed searches he did after the shooting for Iowa City police activity logs and multiple searches of news articles from television and newspaper websites of shootings in Iowa City, and searched Curry's name in connection to a shooting. There were some searches early on April 29, 2021, and later in the day.
Smithey recognized Winfield's email address under the fake name from a previous case in June 2020, which involved Curry allegedly shooting Winfield.
According to testimony, Winfield also searched for how to change or deactivate his Straight Talk cellphone number, which he did shortly after the shooting.
During the investigation, surveillance videos from homes and businesses and traffic cameras showed Winfield, driving a white Dodge Journey SUV, left the complex about 8:03 p.m., just a few minutes after 911 calls were made about the shooting. Investigators showed a map of his path of travel after leaving the scene.
Winfield, in a police interview, denied killing Curry. He even denied knowing him, but messages between Winfield and another person revealed that Winfield stated Curry was the man who shot him in 2020.
During the police interview, Winfield also denied being in Iowa in April 2021. He said he hadn't been in Iowa since that March. He also denied driving the white Dodge SUV. He said it was his girlfriend's.
Winfield also said the vehicle had never been in Iowa City and he never drove it.