The Iowa Court of Appeals had ordered a new trial for Chris Hemm, arguing that other threats against the victim should have been allowed into evidence.
On Tuesday, after two and a half days of deliberations, a jury found Hemm guilty of first-degree murder and second-degree arson for the slaying of Eldon resident Larry Pippenger and a series of fires set to destroy the evidence in April, 2000.
Hemm is to be sentenced July 30 to a mandatory life sentence.
Court records said Pippenger's body was found in a burning car at an abandoned house just outside Eldon. He had been decapitated and dismembered.
Hemm was spending the night at Pippenger's home. Prosecutors said he stabbed Pippenger at the home, then moved his body to a car, setting it on fire to hide evidence.
At his trial, Hemm argued that others had threatened to harm Pippenger.
Information from: The Ottumwa Courier
