Trial date set for Chicago man accused of downtown Mason City murder

MASON CITY — An August trial date has been set for a Chicago man accused of murdering a man in downtown Mason City back in October.

25-year-old Jelani Faulk is accused of repeatedly discharging a firearm at 35-year-old Christopher Tucker of Garner in the early morning hours of October 5th near the intersection of State and Federal. Tucker suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was airlifted to the Mayo Clinic hospitals in Rochester, where he died the next day.

Faulk’s defense attorneys filed a motion to move the trial out of Cerro Gordo County due to extensive pre-trial publicity of the case, with prosecutors not resisting the motion. District Judge DeDra Schroeder approved the change of venue request last month, moving the trial to Mitchell County. Earlier this week, Schroeder set August 22nd as the start date for the trial.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Faulk would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the opportunity for parole. He remains in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on a total of $1,005,000 bond.