SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge says that a defense lawyer’s decision to reveal the location of a murdered child’s body was a risky strategy but not an erroneous one.
U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett rejected a new trial Friday for Donald Boss, who was convicted in 2002 of killing his 10-year-old son and burying his body beneath the family’s home in Remsen.
Boss was charged with murder after the boy went missing. During a bond hearing, his attorney stunned prosecutors by handing them a signed statement revealing where the body was located.
The attorney had advised Boss to disclose the location to try to gain favor with prosecutors and the public.
Bennett says the strategy was “extremely dangerous, like walking a tightrope over the Grand Canyon,” but wasn’t unreasonable given the circumstances.