Man charged in fatal Johnston stabbing had previous murder conviction overturned; 20-year-old victim identified

Philip Joens and William Morris, Des Moines Register
·2 min read

A Des Moines man who was convicted of murder in 2013, only to have the conviction overturned on appeal two years later, has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly stabbing a man to death Monday at a Johnston restaurant.

Johnston police officers were called to the Sonic Drive-In in the 5300 block of Merle Hay Road around 5:15 p.m. Monday, according to a news release. There they found Jermaine Whitaker Moses, 20, of Des Moines, injured with an apparent stab wound. Moses was taken to a Des Moines hospital, where he later died.

Spencer Antowyn Pierce, 55, of Des Moines was arrested early Tuesday morning and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree burglary, according to the release.

Johnston police said Pierce and Moses knew each other and the stabbing "was not a random event," according to the release. Pierce allegedly attacked Moses and another man when they arrived for work at the restaurant, according to a criminal complaint, and stabbed Moses in the chest with a foldable knife.

Monday's stabbing marks the second time Pierce has been charged with murder. In 2013, he was tried and convicted alongside his girlfriend Deanna Hood for the shooting death of Steve Harmon, 35.

Hood is currently incarcerated at the Iowa Correctional Institute for Women in Mitchellville. Pierce was two years into his life sentence when the Iowa Court of Appeals overturned his conviction in 2015.

Prosecutors said Harmon was dealing methamphetamine and Hood was sometimes his supplier. Phone records proved that Hood and Harmon communicated right before his death, according to a separate Court of Appeals ruling that affirmed Hood’s conviction.

Officers determined that calls Pierce made the night of the murder pinged a cell phone tower several miles from the site of the shooting. But the Court of Appeals ruled in 2015 that there was not enough evidence to show that Hood and Pierce were together at the time of the shooting.

"Although Harmon arranged a drug transaction, he appeared to do so solely with Hood," the ruling said.

The murder weapon, a shotgun, and cash were never recovered, and physical evidence tied Pierce to Harmon's murder, according to the ruling.

"The identifying information of the two killers at the murder site is weak," the ruling said. "The weight of the evidence, even when taken in the light most favorable to the State ... convinces us that a rational trier could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Pierce killed or robbed Harmon or aided and abetted another in doing so."

Pierce also was charged with multiple drug offenses from the same investigation, and eventually pleaded guilty and received a 25-year sentence.

He has been on parole since at least May of last year, according to court records. Pierce was scheduled to be released from supervised custody in March of 2025, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Philip Joens covers breaking news for The Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-443-3347 at pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Police ID Johnston stabbing victim; suspect had past murder conviction