A Pella woman convicted of first degree murder had her life sentence affirmed by the Iowa Court of Appeals today. Michelle Boat was found guilty in 2021 for the stabbing and killing of Tracy Mondabough on May 18th, 2020.
Boat appealed her conviction and sentence for murder in the first degree. She argued the district court, “abused its discretion when denying her motion to strike a potential juror for cause, should have granted her motion for mistrial based on prosecutorial error because the State encouraged the jury to consider punishment during its closing argument, and misapplied the law when determining her reasonable ability to pay restitution during sentencing by considering assets not subject to execution.”
According to the Iowa Court of Appeals, “The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Boat’s motion to strike a potential juror for cause or in denying her motion for mistrial based on prosecutorial error. The court also did not err in considering Boat’s assets that are exempt from execution when determining her reasonable ability to pay category “B” restitution.”