CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. - After deliberating for about three hours, a Chesterfield jury found an 18-year-old woman guilty in the the murder of Rusty Mack.
There was a heavy police presence outside and inside the Chesterfield Courthouse Friday as the jury convicted Blair Dacey of second-degree murder, but not aggravated malicious wounding. Instead, she was found guilty of assault and battery
CBS 6 senior reporter Wayne Covil reported that Dacey looked on in disbelief as the verdict was read. Then she put her head in her hands and sobbed.
“There’s no happiness because nothing will bring him back. And this is just a memory for him,” Mike Mack, Rusty’s father, said. “I’m just glad the people saw it’s not just the people saying it was wrong.”
There were tears from both sides of the courtroom as the verdict was read.
“There’s finally justice for Rusty,” Samantha Schickler, Rusty Mack's cousin said fighting back tears. “We’ve been waiting for so long.”
Dacey, a former high school soccer player, is accused of kicking Mack, 21, in the face during an alcohol-fueled confrontation outside his Colonial Heights apartment in February 2013.
Mack fell and hit his head on the curb. After 17 days in a coma, Mack died when his family removed him from life support.
A Henrico jury acquitted Ashley's boyfriend Jonathan Guy on second-degree murder and murder by mob charges. Charges against Mack's estranged wife Ashley and another man, Francis Blaha, were nolle prossed in this case after they agreed to testify against Dacey.
“If it won’t for Ashley and Frankie, I don’t think that the verdict would have came out like it should," Schickler said. "I’m just glad they owned up to everything… to be honest with everybody.”
Dacey, a juvenile when Mack died, was the last person charged in the case.
Witnesses testified Mack was drunk and fell down during the fight. When he tried to get up, they said Dacey kicked him in the face.
Dacey’s friends and family members would not comment as they left the courthouse. One man did say that it was an extremely sad day.
Dacey is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 23 at 11 a.m.
