DES MOINES, Iowa — A man from Des Moines was sentenced to 25 years in prison for trying to kill another man with a baseball bat.
The Polk County Attorney's Office said 34-year-old Joshua Jordan Crouch was convicted in September of attempted murder and causing serious injury to a then 35-year-old man.
Crouch had just been to an Iowa Cubs game on April 14, 2023 and stopped at Tequila’s Liquor on Des Moines Street, the attorney's office said. Surveillance video showed the victim parked his car next to Crouch’s. While the two were talking, Crouch grabbed a wooden bat he had bought at the game from his car and hit the victim in the head.
Crouch then drove away, leaving the victim on the ground, prosecutors said.
The jury found Crouch guilty despite his claim he was acting in self-defense.
Assistant County Attorney Kevin Bell requested a 35-year prison sentence. The victim, Mario Zamora Yepez, later died in May 2024 from unrelated injuries after falling off a ladder. He was 37.
Judge David Nelmark sentenced Crouch to 25 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 17.5 years.
Crouch apologized to Zamora’s family in court, saying he didn’t mean for it to happen.
"We are not going to have a happy Christmas this year," the victim's sister said in court, the county attorney's office added.
