Marion County jury acquits Dukich of attempted murder, burglary charges
Sep. 1—FAIRMONT — He was persistent and at times took detours that drew scoffs from the courtroom gallery, but it all paid off.
Defense Attorney Tyler Mason was able to secure 2 out of 3 not guilty verdicts for his client, Jeremy Michael Dukich Thursday in Marion County Circuit Court. The jury found Dukich not guilty of attempted murder and burglary, while finding him guilty of domestic battery.
"The jigsaw got much bigger than anyone thought, which leaves me with only more reasonable doubt," Mason said.
The jury seemed to agree. No jury poll was done after the verdict was read.
Mason was tenacious, overcoming what appeared to be an open and shut case from the prosecution and a client who's biggest liability at times was his own mouth. The prosecution estimated a day-long trial, but Mason's representation drew it out to an entire two days, during which he zealously attacked any narrative the prosecution made. Mason persisted even when it seemed his attempts to discredit photographic evidence as doctored or poor quality fell flat with witnesses.
However, at times it did seem that Dukich was intent on derailing his own defense, never directly answering any of the prosecution's questions and rambling off into tangents. The normally methodical and measured Jeffrey Freeman, Marion County Prosecuting Attorney, not given to theatrics, nonetheless was brought to exasperation by Dukich and revealed a rival level of talent for showmanship that his colleague in the prosecutor's office, Sean Murphy, possesses.
During Dukich's cross-examination, Freeman said, "Do you always have trouble being coherent?"
The prosecution expected day 2 of the trial to bring more clarity to the case.
Dukich's claims the day before that he was a nonviolent person, except for a deer he struck in an accident once, opened the door for the prosecution to bring in two prior convictions for domestic battery that the court restrained from evidence for the trial. Both convictions stem from 2007 and 2008. Two other incidents where it appeared Dukich battered the victim in March 2022 and April 30, 2023, also became fair game.
"He punched me in the face, freaked out after he punched me in the face, started smashing my dashboard, but suddenly went, 'oh,' and he had a knife in him," she said during Mason's cross-examination. "He made up a story about tripping over a cat and stabbing himself with a knife he was holding and got me to go along with it, but the cop at the hospital saw right through it."
The victim's testimony about the knife was similar to other instances that the prosecution revealed. Freeman asked Dukich about a time he had been seen running through a backyard wearing only shorts, a vest and cowboy boots to which Dukich denied ever having done so. Freeman replied that there was security camera footage of him doing so.
During one exchange, Dukich began nitpicking the testimony that two police officers and the victim gave, disputing every little detail of how he had been found in a spare bedroom and categorizing it as doing inventory on his wallet. Dukich addressed the jury directly during his cross, clasping his hands together and pleading with them as he apologized repeatedly. It drew Freeman's ire.
"Stop apologizing," Freeman said. "So everyone is false or incorrect, the only person telling the truth about any mundane fact, and her horrific injuries, is you?"
Dukich's testimony appeared to hinge on selling the story that the victim was a meth addict who, fearful at being caught with Dukich, injured herself and called the police to avoid telling the truth to her parents. Freeman pointed out it was the third story he spun on the stand throughout his two day appearance.
"He's a master manipulator, or at least in his own eyes," Freeman said during closing. "But he's not very effective. Maybe it's from all the meth usage throughout the years and going cold turkey 2 or 3 months ago."
However, the jury disagreed.
Despite photos of injuries to the victim's neck, consistent testimony from the victim, members of her family and two officers, they found there wasn't enough evidence to reliably find Dukich guilty of attempted murder or burglary. This will be Dukich's third domestic battery conviction, which is a misdemeanor in the state of West Virginia.
Sentencing is scheduled for 30 days from now. Dukich will remain in jail until then.
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com