GALENA, ILL. -- Before they sentenced David Damm to die Wednesday, jurors heard the good and bad of the condemned man's life.

They heard how Damm was a decorated Army veteran who served in Vietnam.

They heard of how he allegedly molested another girl and opened fire on a carload of teenagers.

And Damm heard from the mother of his victim how her life has changed since the slaying.

Leneaka Johnson recounted the last time she saw her daughter, 13-year-old Donnisha Hill, alive was when she got on the bus to school.

"I yelled 'I love you, Nish' and she put her hand up and waved," Johnson said, reading from a prepared statement.

The next time she saw her was in the coroner's office.

"I wanted to touch her, grab her and shake her until she woke up," Johnson said.

"I have been forced to live without my daughter. My daughter Vonnisha no longer has her big sister to tell her secrets to or to play dress up with," Johnson said.

Jurors also heard from a 41-year-old Waterloo woman who claimed Damm used to pay her $10 or less for sexual favors when she was 13 years old in 1979 and 1980.

"Older girls I knew said Dave would give you money for sex," she said.

Damm would have been in his early 30s, and the woman said the 10 or more encounters happened at the automobile sales office where he worked and in his van while it was parked in the Mitchell sandpits area or by Ferguson Fields Park.

Damm lost interest in her after she spent time in a juvenile home for being a habitual runaway. But he asked her if she had any younger friends and paid for the introduction, according to the woman's account.

On cross examination, the woman said she was related to Donnisha Hill and only told authorities about the abuse after Damm had been arrested for Hill's murder.

Sgt. Randy Chapman with Waterloo Police Department described an April 1990 incident where Damm chased and shot at a car filled with five teens ages 14 to 17.

Damm received probation for the incident, which happened when the teens had come to his home to beat up his son, who was in middle school at the time.

Wendy Liss, a mitigation specialist for the defense, said Damm's military records show he enlisted in the Army in 1966 and earned two Bronze Stars and other honors.

He served in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive.

Two Jo Daviess County corrections officers who have had contact with Damm while he was in jail awaiting trial also spoke.

They said Damm hasn't caused any problems and spends his time watching TV, reading the Bible and talking to new inmates about religion.

Contact Jeff Reinitz

at (319) 291-1578 or

jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.