Jury finds Jacob Hamilton guilty of willful injury in 2024 Hudson shooting, acquits on murder charge

By Dani McCulley

A Black Hawk County jury has acquitted Jacob Leigh Hamilton of first-degree murder, instead finding him guilty of the lesser charge of willful injury causing serious injury in the July 2024 shooting of Zachary Drinovsky.

The verdict was delivered Friday morning following approximately 10 hours of deliberation, bringing an end to a trial that spanned over a week and hinged on competing interpretations of forensic evidence and claims of self-defense.

Hamilton, 51, originally faced life in prison if convicted of the first-degree murder charge stemming from the early morning hours of July 14, 2024, when 35-year-old Drinovsky was fatally shot outside Hamilton's Wagon Wheel Apartments residence in Hudson.

By returning a guilty verdict on the lesser included offense of willful injury causing serious injury, the jury indicated they believed Hamilton's actions were unjustified and criminal, but ultimately rejected the state's argument that the shooting was a premeditated and deliberate act of murder.

Throughout the trial, defense attorneys Konrad Kamizelich and Nicole Watt argued that Hamilton was a terrified homeowner acting to protect himself. The defense centered its case on Hamilton's recorded police interview, during which he stated he awoke to find Drinovsky inside his apartment making verbal threats following an altercation at a local bar earlier in the evening.

During cross-examination of state witnesses, the defense highlighted the chaos of the incident, which took place in darkness, and heavily scrutinized the limitations of the state's forensic scene reconstruction. Watt and Kamizelich pointed to small sample sizes in the state's shell casing test-firing and repeatedly emphasized that investigators could never definitively prove Hamilton's exact location when the shots were fired.

Prosecutors for the state, including Assistant Iowa Attorneys General Shawna Johnson-Miers and Israel Kodiaga, had sought a first-degree murder conviction. The state presented digital scene mapping, bloodstain pattern analysis, and testimony from multiple investigators in an attempt to show Hamilton's description of his movements—specifically that he was pushing his dog up a ramp near his door—did not match where shell casings were ultimately recovered.

During the trial, the jury learned Drinovsky sustained multiple gunshot wounds, including injuries to his arm, abdomen, leg, and back.

Prior to the reading of the verdict, the presiding judge issued instructions to those gathered in the courtroom to refrain from emotional outbursts, acknowledging that attendees had maintained a respectful demeanor throughout the trial. He urged a continuation of that decorum, cautioning that any disruptions to the proceedings would result in removal by the numerous sheriff's deputies stationed within the room.

In the moments following the verdict, a visibly shaken Hamilton was overheard expressing his love and gratitude to family members for their ongoing support. Despite the emotional weight of the decision, the courtroom remained orderly and devoid of any further incident.

Hamilton remained in custody following the verdict. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.