Jay Neubaum was a seventeen year old from Iowa who would fatally shoot another teenager. According to court documents Jay Neubaum and the victim plus two others were working on a car in a garage when an argument broke out. Jay Neubaum would fatally shoot the victim in the head with a shotgun causing his death. This teen killer would ultimately be arrested, convicted and sentenced to fifty years in prison however Jay Neubaum is now going on trial for ten counts of sexual abuse that resulted from the sexual assault of six girls.
Jay Neubaum 2023 Information
| Name | Jay Lee Lane Neubaum |
| Offender Number | 6790088 |
| Sex | M |
| Birth Date | 12/21/2002 |
| Location | Anamosa State Penitentiary |
| Offense | MURDER – 2ND DEGREE, 85% |
| TDD/SDD * | 01/25/2044 |
| Commitment Date | 08/25/2021 |
| Recall Date | 08/25/2022 |
| Mandatory Minimum (if applicable) |
Jay Neubaum More News
An Onawa teen was sentenced Thursday to 50 years in prison for the shooting death of another teen in a Mapleton, Iowa, garage.
District Judge Duane Hoffmeyer waived any mandatory minimum sentence that Jay Lee Neubaum must serve before he’s eligible for parole, according to court documents.
Neubaum must also pay $150,000 to the estate of Joseph Hopkins.
A Monona County District Court jury in May found Neubaum, 18, guilty of second-degree murder for the Jan. 31, 2020, shooting death of 16-year-old Hopkins.
Typically, a defendant found guilty of second-degree murder would face a mandatory minimum of 35 years in prison on the 50-year sentence. But Neubaum was 17 at the time of the shooting, and Iowa law says that if a person was under age 18 at the time an offense, other than a Class A felony, was committed, a judge may suspend all or part of the prison sentence, including any mandatory minimum sentence
Neubaum had been charged with first-degree murder, which is a Class A felony, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge.
Hopkins, of Mapleton, was shot once in the forehead with a 12-gauge shotgun while he, Neubaum and two other teenage boys were working on a demolition derby car in a garage at the home of Neubaum’s grandmother, with whom he was living at the time.
Prosecutors said Neubaum shot Hopkins after becoming angry with him because he would not stop playing with an unloaded 20-gauge shotgun. The defense said the shooting was an accident.
Neubaum still faces prosecution in Monona County for 10 counts of third-degree sexual abuse for the alleged rape of six teenage girls and forced sexual contact with a seventh in 2019 and 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is scheduled to stand trial in December.
Frequently Asked Questions
Jay Neubaum Now
Jay Neubaum is currently incarcerated at the Anamosa State Penitentiary
Jay Neubaum Release Date
Jay Neubaum is not eligible for parole until 2042
Jay Neubaum Sexual Assault Trial
Jay Lee Neubaum’s trial wrapped up Thursday without his defense attorney calling any witnesses, as a judge will now decide whether the Mapleton teen is guilty of sexually abusing seven teenage girls.
During the three-day trial, each of the girls, who ranged in age from 13 to 16, described how Neubaum forced himself on them at various locations in Mapleton, pop. 1,165, between August 2019 and March 2020.
Neubaum, 18, has denied the allegations.
In her closing arguments, defense attorney Theresa Rachel contended prosecutors had failed to prove their case. She pointed to what she described as conflicting or inconsistent testimony from the girls and other witnesses.
“The evidence that was presented either shows consent or that it didn’t even rise to the level of a sex act,” Rachel told the court.
Rachel also focused on one of the girls, a then-15-year-old who testified Neubaum sexually abused her in the bedroom of his home in March 2020, ejaculating on her underwear and jeans. A state criminalist testified Thursday that seminal fluid found on the crotch of her jeans matched Neubaum’s DNA.
The defense attorney suggested the girl may have persuaded the other six girls to concoct stories of their own.
“There is also a lot of evidence that shows that there might have been some collusion between these girls of how to say this and what to say to law enforcement,” Rachel told the court.
n his rebuttal, Monona County Attorney Ian A. McConaughey said the girl would have had to have been an “amazing, amazing manipulator” to fabricate a false claim of sexual abuse not only for herself, but also six other girls, for over 1 1/2 years, and then testify, under oath, and “make that false claim of sexual abuse all over again.”
“But that’s not what the evidence has shown — that (the girl) is some sort of grand master behind this,” McConaughey told the court.
In their testimony, the girls told consistent stories, McConaughey said in his closing arguments. In each instance, Neubaum got the victims alone, started kissing them against their will, pushed them down, forcibly removed their pants and underwear, and sexually assaulted them, the prosecutor said.
“This defendant used the same playbook over and over because he knew that’s what worked,” he said.
Neubaum forced himself on the girls, despite their repeated pleas asking him to stop, he said.
“He simply would not accept no for an answer,” McConaughey said.
Responding to the defense bringing up the extended period between when the cases allegedly occurred and when the victims came forward to authorities, McConaughey said many of the victims were long fearful of saying anything
“A lot of the victims worried what other people would think of them,” he said. “They were worried nobody would believe them.”
Neubaum “made these girls feel it was not safe to tell and that worked for a long time,” he said.
Some victims were in denial, a state of shock or ashamed of what happened, said the prosecutor, who mentioned one of the girls twice tried unsuccessfully to kill herself.
Before the prosecution rested its case Thursday, Maple Valley-Anthon Oto High School Principal Dan Dougherty testified that Neubaum attended special units addressing sexual consent as an MVAO student in 2018 and 2019.
“It was mandatory for all of our students to watch a video, listening to a speaker, as well as take part in a discussion with school mentors, related to the rules of sexual consent,” Dougherty said.
Neubaum is charged with 10 counts of third-degree sexual abuse for the alleged assault of six girls, and forced sexual contact with a seventh. Each sex abuse count carries a 10-year prison sentence.
Because Neubaum waived his right to a jury trial, District Judge Zachary Hindman will decide the case in a written ruling. Hindman said he intends to reach a decision as soon as possible. Once that happens, he will schedule a hearing to announce the verdict.
In May, a Monona County jury found Jay Neubaum guilty of second-degree murder in the Jan. 31, 2020, shooting death of 16-year-old Joseph Hopkins in Mapleton. Neubaum is currently serving a 50-year prison term on that offense.
Hindman on Thursday granted Neubaum’s request not to return to Monona County for the verdict in the sex abuse trial. Court officials will make arrangements for him to watch the proceedings through a Zoom call.