Inmate Who Killed Police Officer 66 Years Ago Dies In Prison

(Des Moines) An Iowa inmate whose conviction for killing an Independence police officer sparked a call for an end to the death penalty has died.  The Iowa Department of Corrections says 84-year-old Warren Nutter died from natural causes Wednesday in hospice at the Iowa State Penitentiary.  Independence police chief David Niedert says Nutter killed Independence police officer Harold Pearce at the Buchanan County Courthouse on January 5th of 1956 while trying to escape.   Nutter was saved from hanging when the governor commuted his sentence from death to life in prison in 1957 and his case brought attention that later led to the end of the death penalty.  Chief Niedert says it’s important to remember officer Pearce as the one who gave his life in service to the city of Independence. Nutter was the longest-serving prisoner in the system. He was interviewed in the documentary “The Fort,” which chronicled the history of the original Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison — which was closed after 177 years.