## Facts

- After a drinking party at the Hi-Lo Lodge tavern, an argument about money escalated among Curtis Sederburg, Bud Wolf, and Jerry Dean Rupp.
- The dispute moved outside and became increasingly heated; the evidence conflicted on who initiated the physical confrontation.
- As Sederburg advanced toward Rupp, Rupp produced a .38-caliber revolver and shot Sederburg.
- Rupp fled and was later arrested at his home.
- Rupp admitted the shooting but claimed justification (self-defense), offering evidence of prior hostility, threats, and alleged assaults by Sederburg to support a reasonable fear of serious harm.
- Rupp was charged in a single information with (1) assault with intent to commit murder (Iowa Code § 707.11) and (2) possession of firearms by a felon (Iowa Code § 724.26); a jury convicted him on both counts.

## Issues

1. Whether the jury instructions on justification/self-defense for assault with intent to commit murder correctly stated Iowa law, including the standard for “reasonable force” and the limits on the use of deadly force.
2. Whether reversible error occurred in the felon-in-possession conviction under Iowa Code § 724.26, including alleged evidentiary and instructional defects.

## Decision

- The assault-with-intent-to-commit-murder conviction was reversed and remanded for a new trial.
- The court held the justification/self-defense instructions were erroneous, serious, and prejudicial because justification was the defendant’s central defense.
- The felon-in-possession conviction was affirmed; the court found no basis to disturb the verdict on that count.

## Legal Principles

- Jury instructions may be phrased in the trial court’s own words, but they must fully and fairly state the applicable law and issues for the jury’s decision.
- Under Iowa Code § 704.1, “reasonable force” is force a reasonable person in like circumstances would judge necessary to prevent injury or loss, and no more; deadly force is reasonable only to resist a like force or threat.
- When justification is a central disputed issue, a material misstatement or incomplete statement of the self-defense standard is prejudicial and requires reversal.

## Conclusion

The court ordered a new trial on the assault charge because the jury was not properly instructed on Iowa’s statutory limits for reasonable and deadly force in self-defense, but it left intact the conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon.


State v. Rupp, 282 N.W.2d 125 (Iowa 1979)