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Hear from prosecutors and Donnisha Hill’s father.
Donnisha Hill's mother, Laneaka Johnson, center, with famly members, from left, Charmus Anderson and Angela Wilson, reacts after the verdict.
JEFF REINITZ / Courier Staff Writer
JEFF REINITZ / Courier Staff Writer
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Jury finds Damm guilty of murder
By JEFF REINITZ, Courier Staff Writer
GALENA, Ill. --- A Waterloo used car salesman said he was merely helping a 13-year-old girl run away the day before she turned up dead near Galena.
A jury of 12 Illinois residents didn't buy what he was selling.
It took jurors from 3:10 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. Thursday to find David Andrew Damm, 60, guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and aggravated kidnapping in the October 2006 death of Donnisha Hill.
Jury members avoided looking in Damm's direction as they filed into the courtroom.
Donnisha Hill's mother, Laneaka Johnson, sobbed when Clerk of Court Sharon Wand read the verdict.
Gripping Johnson's hand was the girl's father, Adonnis Hill, who bowed his head.
Damm showed no emotion, his eyes fixed downward.
The fast verdict came after a day of closing arguments in which prosecutors said Damm paid friend Bruce Burt, 59, $2,000 to kill Donnisha Hill because he feared a sexual abuse investigation that would break apart his own family.
The defense said Burt was hired to take the girl out of town but beat her to death with a hammer after she resisted his sexual advances.
Outside the courthouse, Johnson wept and hugged family members.
"This is what we have lived and breathed since they took her," Johnson said. "This is the first part, and now comes change.
"It's been a long time," said Johnson's brother, Charmus Anderson.
Adonnis Hill said he didn't bother to glance in Damm's direction after hearing the verdict.
"No reason to look at him. I looked at him for the last two years," he said.
The conviction means the case will continue to the eligibility phase, where the panel will determine if it meets the criteria for the death penalty.
"We are very pleased with the verdict. We believe justice was served, and we look forward to the next stage," said Jo Daviess County States Attorney Terry Kurt.
Richard Schwind, chief of the criminal enforcement division for the Illinois Attorney General's Office, which helped prosecute Damm, said the speed of the verdict was the result of the strength of the case.
"I believe the jury was attentive the entire time. They were all taking notes. The jury listened to all the evidence, considered all of the evidence and came up with a just verdict," Schwind said.
"I believe we've done a service to society. I believe that we have brought justice to a young girl that was brutally murdered," Schwind said.
Defense attorneys Stephen Richards and Mark Lyon declined to comment on the verdict because the remainder of the case is still pending.
Closing arguments
Burt testified for the state as part of a plea deal and admitted he drove the girl to Illinois and beat her to death with a hammer and cut her neck. He said Damm paid him a $2,000 installment of a $5,000 agreement to do it.
Waterloo police were pursing a molestation probe against Damm after Donnisha Hill's parents spotted her getting out of Damm's van Oct. 11, 2006.
The following day, the girl handed her mother a paper towel that was smeared with what was later determined to be Damm's semen.
Prosecutor Vincenzo Chimera said Damm was worried about how the sex crime conviction would affect his ability to bond with a grandchild.
"If you are convicted of sexual abuse of a child, you can't be around children," Chimera said. "And that's why he had this child (Donnisha Hill) murdered," Chimera said.
Prosecutors said Damm used a crush Donnisha Hill had on him to trick her into getting into a car with Burt thinking they were going to Chicago and Damm would be arriving later.
Steven Nate with the Illinois Attorney General's Office reminded jurors of Burt's testimony that the girl asked "where's Dave" when Burt began hitting her in the head with a hammer in the dead of night on a rural driveway.
"This poor little girl, who is being murdered for his wishes, his plans, and she still thinks she's going to Chicago for this romantic weekend," Nate said.
He said even though Damm didn't swing the hammer, he is still accountable for Hill's death
"You can put his hand right on that handle as well," Nate said. He said Damm is accountable because he asked Burt to carry out the crime, agreed to pay him for it, delivered the girl to Burt and provided money for gas, and for a camera to prove the murder had been carried out.
"He's bankrolling the whole operation ? he's the one calling all the shots ? He planned it. He paid for it. He executed it," Nate said.
Nate said jurors not only got to see the weapon that killed Donnisha Hill, they got to hear the weapon speak when Burt took the stand.
"Bruce Burt is not a murder weapon. He is a murderer," defense attorney Richards responded. "And he murdered Donnisha Hill for his own reasons ... because when he tried to seduce or rape her, she fought."
He called Burt, one of the state's star witnesses, a "reprobate, scallywag and scoundrel" who lived in the moment.
He questioned why, if the plan was to kill, Burt had friends bring him the hammer and knife and bought gas for the trip at a store where a police officer saw him.
"If Bruce Burt was planning a murder, why in the world would he leave so much evidence around?" Stephens said.
He said evidence at the murder scene --- the girl's pulled-up shirt and a wig that lacked blood --- pointed to a struggle and not the ambush that Burt described on the stand.
Although Damm may be morally responsible for arranging to have Burt help Hill run away, Damm isn't guilty of a crime, Richards said.
"David Damm is not guilty of first-degree murder. He is innocent," Richards said.
Richards said Burt's account can't be believed because of the deal he struck with prosecutors to avoid death row. He said it was like putting a gun to someone's head and saying do what we want or we'll pull the trigger.
"What he's telling you is a lie. He's covering up for what really happened," Richards said.
Jurors will be back Tuesday morning following the Columbus Day holiday to begin the next phase of the case.
Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.
A jury of 12 Illinois residents didn't buy what he was selling.
It took jurors from 3:10 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. Thursday to find David Andrew Damm, 60, guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and aggravated kidnapping in the October 2006 death of Donnisha Hill.
Jury members avoided looking in Damm's direction as they filed into the courtroom.
Donnisha Hill's mother, Laneaka Johnson, sobbed when Clerk of Court Sharon Wand read the verdict.
Gripping Johnson's hand was the girl's father, Adonnis Hill, who bowed his head.
Damm showed no emotion, his eyes fixed downward.
The fast verdict came after a day of closing arguments in which prosecutors said Damm paid friend Bruce Burt, 59, $2,000 to kill Donnisha Hill because he feared a sexual abuse investigation that would break apart his own family.
The defense said Burt was hired to take the girl out of town but beat her to death with a hammer after she resisted his sexual advances.
Outside the courthouse, Johnson wept and hugged family members.
"This is what we have lived and breathed since they took her," Johnson said. "This is the first part, and now comes change.
"It's been a long time," said Johnson's brother, Charmus Anderson.
Adonnis Hill said he didn't bother to glance in Damm's direction after hearing the verdict.
"No reason to look at him. I looked at him for the last two years," he said.
The conviction means the case will continue to the eligibility phase, where the panel will determine if it meets the criteria for the death penalty.
"We are very pleased with the verdict. We believe justice was served, and we look forward to the next stage," said Jo Daviess County States Attorney Terry Kurt.
Richard Schwind, chief of the criminal enforcement division for the Illinois Attorney General's Office, which helped prosecute Damm, said the speed of the verdict was the result of the strength of the case.
"I believe the jury was attentive the entire time. They were all taking notes. The jury listened to all the evidence, considered all of the evidence and came up with a just verdict," Schwind said.
"I believe we've done a service to society. I believe that we have brought justice to a young girl that was brutally murdered," Schwind said.
Defense attorneys Stephen Richards and Mark Lyon declined to comment on the verdict because the remainder of the case is still pending.
Closing arguments
Burt testified for the state as part of a plea deal and admitted he drove the girl to Illinois and beat her to death with a hammer and cut her neck. He said Damm paid him a $2,000 installment of a $5,000 agreement to do it.
Waterloo police were pursing a molestation probe against Damm after Donnisha Hill's parents spotted her getting out of Damm's van Oct. 11, 2006.
The following day, the girl handed her mother a paper towel that was smeared with what was later determined to be Damm's semen.
Prosecutor Vincenzo Chimera said Damm was worried about how the sex crime conviction would affect his ability to bond with a grandchild.
"If you are convicted of sexual abuse of a child, you can't be around children," Chimera said. "And that's why he had this child (Donnisha Hill) murdered," Chimera said.
Prosecutors said Damm used a crush Donnisha Hill had on him to trick her into getting into a car with Burt thinking they were going to Chicago and Damm would be arriving later.
Steven Nate with the Illinois Attorney General's Office reminded jurors of Burt's testimony that the girl asked "where's Dave" when Burt began hitting her in the head with a hammer in the dead of night on a rural driveway.
"This poor little girl, who is being murdered for his wishes, his plans, and she still thinks she's going to Chicago for this romantic weekend," Nate said.
He said even though Damm didn't swing the hammer, he is still accountable for Hill's death
"You can put his hand right on that handle as well," Nate said. He said Damm is accountable because he asked Burt to carry out the crime, agreed to pay him for it, delivered the girl to Burt and provided money for gas, and for a camera to prove the murder had been carried out.
"He's bankrolling the whole operation ? he's the one calling all the shots ? He planned it. He paid for it. He executed it," Nate said.
Nate said jurors not only got to see the weapon that killed Donnisha Hill, they got to hear the weapon speak when Burt took the stand.
"Bruce Burt is not a murder weapon. He is a murderer," defense attorney Richards responded. "And he murdered Donnisha Hill for his own reasons ... because when he tried to seduce or rape her, she fought."
He called Burt, one of the state's star witnesses, a "reprobate, scallywag and scoundrel" who lived in the moment.
He questioned why, if the plan was to kill, Burt had friends bring him the hammer and knife and bought gas for the trip at a store where a police officer saw him.
"If Bruce Burt was planning a murder, why in the world would he leave so much evidence around?" Stephens said.
He said evidence at the murder scene --- the girl's pulled-up shirt and a wig that lacked blood --- pointed to a struggle and not the ambush that Burt described on the stand.
Although Damm may be morally responsible for arranging to have Burt help Hill run away, Damm isn't guilty of a crime, Richards said.
"David Damm is not guilty of first-degree murder. He is innocent," Richards said.
Richards said Burt's account can't be believed because of the deal he struck with prosecutors to avoid death row. He said it was like putting a gun to someone's head and saying do what we want or we'll pull the trigger.
"What he's telling you is a lie. He's covering up for what really happened," Richards said.
Jurors will be back Tuesday morning following the Columbus Day holiday to begin the next phase of the case.
Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.
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