Joshua Pendleton Iowa man found guilty of first degree robbery and fatal beating of Fort Dodge pastor Rev. Allen Henderson. History of mental illness and schizophrenia.
An Iowa man was convicted on Tuesday of first-degree murder and robbery in the fatal beating of a pastor outside his church in October 2019.
According to police, 37-year-old Joshua Pendleton attacked his pastor, Rev. Allen Henderson, outside the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The attack happened after the 64-year-old pastor attempted to stop Pendleton from entering the church. Pendleton claimed that he heard a girl screaming inside the church and believed that Henderson was assaulting her.
Henderson was found to be unresponsive outside the entrance of the church.
In February 2020, Pendleton was supposed to stand trial but he was found to not be competent enough to do so. His family and investigators have already revealed that he is schizophrenic.
Pendleton is well-known to police, who said they have visited his home for various mental health issues according to KCCI.
Competent to stand trial?
Just a few months after in June, a psychiatrist at the Iowa Medical Classification Center in Coralville said Pendleton was ‘restored to competency’ and was found competent to stand trial.
During the trial Pendleton’s attorneys argued Pendleton was experiencing hallucinations and delusions because of his condition, according to the Fort Dodge Messenger.
‘Mr. Pendleton was in such a diseased or deranged condition of the mind to make him incapable of knowing or understanding the nature and quality of his acts, or incapable of distinguishing right and wrong in relation to his acts,’ University of Iowa neuropsychologist Daniel Tranel said Monday during the trial, according to the Messenger.
Pendleton is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18. Pendleton faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
