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2nd man sentenced in Council Bluffs homeless shelter slaying

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January 11th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Another of the four people charged in the slaying of a man at a Council Bluffs homeless shelter has been imprisoned. Pottawattamie County District Court records say 33-year-old Brandon Hollis was sentenced Thursday to 20 years. He’d pleaded guilty to charges of robbery and willful injury after prosecutors dropped a murder charge. Hollis, 47-year-old Vance Good, 20-year-old James McCauley and 21-year-old Cody Varnes were charged after the March 21, 2018, killing of 44-year-old Lee Johnson in a bathroom at Joshua House.

Good’s been convicted of first-degree murder, and Tuesday he was sentenced to life in prison McCauley has pleaded not guilty to robbery and first-degree murder, but another plea hearing is scheduled next week for him. Varnes has pleaded not guilty to robbery, but a plea and sentencing hearing is set Jan. 24 for him. The records don’t say what charges either man will be pleading to at his hearing.