Tess Damm sentenced to 23 years
Original story: myspacekillers.com/2007/03/03/girl-held-in-mothers-death.aspx
Thanks to reporter and publication.
The teenage daughter of a Lafayette woman who was stabbed to death in February 2007 was sentenced Monday to 23 years in prison for her role in the murder.
Tess Damm will remain in a juvenile facility until she is 21, when she will be moved to an adult prison for an 18-year term.
Boulder District Judge James Klein listened carefully to a long line of people who spoke, often tearfully, for and against Tess Damm.
Prosecutors painted the teen as a skilled manipulator who used her volatile boyfriend to do her dirty work. Defense attorneys told the judge she was an abused and neglected child who detached herself from her emotions to cope with a tumultuous home life.
Tess Damm wore her long blonde hair in braids that rested on her shoulders, making her look younger than her 16 years. She cried periodically throughout the hearing, particularly when someone spoke on her behalf.
A tip led police to the Damms’ Lafayette home on Feb. 28, 2007, where officers discovered Linda Damm’s battered and badly decomposed body in the truck of a car parked in the garage. Neighbors told police and reporters they had seen Tess Damm; her boyfriend, Bryan Grove; and other teens partying at the house but didn’t realize Linda Damm was missing until the woman’s body was discovered.
Police and prosecutors believe she and Grove plotted the stabbing at a Westminster IHOP the night of Linda Damm’s death in front of their friend Jared Smith.
The Boulder County Coroner determined Linda Damm was stabbed 18 times in the mouth and throat. About a week after the death, Grove called another friend, Jared Guy, to help dispose of the body, according to reports. The teens initially took the body to Erie to dump it in a landfill, but they aborted the plan when their car got stuck in mud. The next night, they took the body to a Boulder cemetery and buried it in a shallow grave. However, they returned within hours, retrieved Linda Damm’s body and returned to the woman’s Lafayette home.
As details of the crime made national headlines, Tess Damm and Grove’s MySpace profiles — which chronicled their relationship, troubles with Linda Damm and hints of an unreported crime — became an Internet destination for curiosity seekers.
Tess Damm in March pleaded guilty as a juvenile to the second-degree murder of her mother and to a special charge called “aggravated juvenile offender.” She pleaded guilty as an adult to solicitation of second-degree murder.
Grove, 18, was convicted last year in the stabbing. He pleaded guilty in November to second-degree murder in exchange for a 40-year prison term.
Smith is serving a two-year sentence in the Colorado Department of Youth Corrections, and Guy is serving a work-release sentence.
Prosecutor Adrian Van Nice said Monday that a psychological examination of the teen revealed she is a “mastermind of a manipulator” who takes advantage of other kids in the youth facility where she is being held.
Van Nice said the sentence should send a message.
“We will not tolerate the brutal murder of our citizens,” Van Nice said.
Family of Linda and Tess Damm said during the hearing that they are torn because they want the crime punished but also want the girl to have a chance at rehabilitation and a life.
Helen Gardner — Linda’s sister and Tess’ aunt — said standing between the prosecution and defense was symbolic. She said the family is haunted by questions about whether they could have prevented the murder, especially because they knew Linda Damm was suffering from debilitating alcoholism, which affected her ability to care for her daughter.
“Could we have prevented this? How do you intervene and force people to get help? How could I abandon Tess to live in such circumstance?” she asked.
Defense attorney John Sullivan said his client isn’t unfeeling; she is guarded.
“She is emotionally crippled,” he said. “And very young.”
Klein commented only briefly during his sentencing of the teen.
“I wish that I had some words of wisdom that would help the pain in this courtroom and the community go away, but I don’t. And I don’t think anybody here does,” Klein said.
“It is impossible to imagine the brutality of the crime. ... The community demands a strong sanction.”
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*****Thanks Pierrette, I apologize for the error. MSK
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Tess Damm is by far NO 'mastermind of a manipulator!' I spent a few months while serving a 14 month committment to DYC at Platte Valley Youth Services Center, in Greeley, CO where she was being held. This girl is incredibly intelligent, actually got good grades in the school there. There are many other good things I have seen come out of this child while I was there, but if u disclosed those, that would violate Client Confidentiality Laws. Stop the 'Hollywood media' style attitude!
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I think that Tess should be realesed from the states custidy only because I was part of the whole thing and I only got 6 years that is including me having a meth lab in my basement and some other crimes that I had committed while on my 6 year sentence
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