MANCHESTER, Iowa (Court TV) — Convicted killer Todd Mullis will not get a new trial after an Iowa judge denied his request for post-conviction relief.
Todd Mullis, 49, was sentenced to life in prison after he was found guilty of murdering his wife, Amy Mullis, at their home in 2018.
Todd Mullis appears in court during a post-conviction relief hearing Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (Court TV)
In March 2025, Todd Mullis returned to court for a multi-day post-conviction relief hearing. His new appellate attorneys presented 11 witnesses who testified, along with the testimony of 28 others via deposition. The appeal asserted more than 100 separate grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel at his 2019 trial. More than a year after that hearing, Judge Laura Parrish denied the motion.
Amy Mullis was found in a shed on the couple’s property, impaled by a corn rake, on Nov. 10, 2018. At the time, Amy Mullis was having an affair with a man who managed the Mullis’ hog operation; after she disclosed the relationship to a friend, the friend warned her that “Todd is going to kill you…because Todd is just the person you don’t mess with.”
On the day of her death, Amy and Todd Mullis had been working on their property with their son, Trysten. When Amy Mullis failed to return after being sent to get a pet carrier from the shed, Trysten went looking for her and found her on her hands and knees, face down, with the corn rake sticking out of her back.
The medical examiner ruled Amy Mullis’ death a homicide after noting that the corn rake had only four tines, but there were six puncture wounds in the victim’s back, as well as injuries to her chin, cheekbone, knees and knuckles. Assistant state medical examiner Dr. Kelly Kruse testified that the wound paths were consistent with the victim being impaled by the corn rake at least two, and possibly three, times.
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At the 2025 post-conviction relief hearing, forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers agreed that Amy Mullis was killed by the corn rake, but concluded the death was accidental. She opined that the victim fell onto the corn rake, causing four puncture wounds, and then received the other two wounds when she unsuccessfully attempted to remove it and instead fell onto the implement a second time.
Todd Mullis argued in his motion for post-conviction relief that his attorney, Gerald “Jake” Feuerhelm, failed to use their agreed-upon strategy at trial. While Todd Mullis maintained that his wife’s death was an accident, Feuerhelm said in his opening statement that his client was innocent and someone else had murdered the victim. Feuerhelm testified at the 2025 hearing that he did not feel the accidental fall theory was viable.
“There was no indication during the trial that Mullis was at odds with his counsel’s theory of the case,” Parrish wrote in her opinion. “If Todd disagreed with the theory advanced by counsel, clearly stated and known at the very beginning of trial in opening statements, he needed to make that known.
While the post-conviction relief motion aimed to attack much of the evidence presented at the 2019 trial, including incriminating searches that had been performed on an iPad the entire family had access to, Parrish found that the defendant had waived his right to appeal the issues by wanting to rush to trial. “Relevant to many of Todd’s claims in this postconviction matter is the unrebutted testimony of Feuerhelm that Todd was adamant the trial not be continued,” Parrish said. “Further investigation or development of another suspect or theory of the case would have resulted in a delay, which was not agreeable to Todd. The record does not support a finding that Todd made it known to his attorneys that he disagreed with the theory of defense at trial. His counsel was acting in a conscientious, meaningful manner while making trial decisions.”
Parrish acknowledged that the defendant has maintained his innocence from behind bars, but said that was not enough to overcome the weight of the evidence. “While he has always maintained his innocence, Todd’s word alone is not sufficient to demonstrate that no reasonable fact finder could find him guilty of charge against him beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Todd Mullis’ appellate attorney did not respond to Court TV’s request for comment.
Todd Mullis is currently serving his life sentence at the Iowa State Penitentiary, according to prison records.
