The Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed Thomas Hansen Senior’s conviction this week following an appeal. Hansen argued for a new trial and appealed his second-degree murder conviction on the sufficiency of evidence for malice aforethought and the trial court erred in instructing the jury to exclude certain testimony as well as in overruling his chain-of-custody objection for the handgun found at the scene of the shooting. According to the Court of Appeals, the opinion holds because there was substantial evidence, the jury was properly instructed and the court did not abuse its discretion in ruling on evidence issues and the motion for a new trial.

The 73-year-old Riverside man was found guilty of fatally shooting his girlfriend, Sharon Gerot, May 1st, 2011, while she was mowing their lawn. Hansen was sentenced to 50 years in prison.