Jury seated in Damon murder trial

A jury was seated at 4:18 p.m. today in Calhoun County Circuit Court in the trial of a Marshall man charged with open murder stemming from the July, 2007 death of 4-year-old Mackenzie VandenHeede. Opening arguments are scheduled to begin Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. in the case against 20-year-old Chadwick Leon Damon. A blow to the back of the head with the heel of his hand apparently killed the child, according to testimony last fall in the open murder preliminary hearing for Damon.
The former Marine who, according to testimony, told police he used military discipline on the child was the primary caregiver for the daughter of his girlfriend, Jill VandenHeede, who was at her job in a local nursing home the night of July 12, 2007 when Damon called 911 after finding Mackenzie unresponsive in a back bedroom of their South Kalamazoo Avenue home, testified Michigan State Police forensic interviewer Lt. Shawn Loughrige. Damon, also charged with one count of first degree child abuse, was bound over for trial by District Judge Marvin Ratner after hearing testimony from Loughrige, Sparrow Hospital Medical Director of Forensic Pathology Dr. Joyce DeJong and Assistant Marshall Fire Chief Bill Hankinson.
Mackenzie was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital by Marshall Firefighters Ambulance and died July 16. Her vital organs were harvested for organ donation and her body was sent to Sparrow Hospital for autopsy where DeJong determined that cause of death was blunt force head injury.
DeJong said she found a one centimeter tear on the back of Mackenzie’s scalp, bruises on the sides of her face, just beneath her jaw, multiple bruises on her chest and back, abdomen, arms and legs.
“There were three bruises to the scalp,” she said of the inside of the scalp. “One of them was clearly in relation to the previous tear and there was bleeding in that area. More than likely, it’s three separate blows.”
She said the swelling to the brain was trauma induced.
“It is a severe, violent force that causes that,” she said. “It’s not from any trivial type of activity that we see subdural trauma in children who have been in car accidents.”
Also on the witness list for the trial are Kathie Powers (911), Lance Lynch, Heath Shoemaker, Ofc. Shannon Koepke, Ofc. Josh Lankerd, Sgt. Scott McDonald, Dr. David Komasara (expert), Kathy Nichols, Kevin Ferguson, Brett Pehrson, Sgt. Wes Cuatt, Dep. Aaron Wiersma, Dept. Michael Vanderbilt, Ofc. Lee Friend, Dep. John Pignataro, Sgt. Martin Brown, Marilyn Vandenheede, Jennifer Brown, Sherry Flynn, Mike Kahl, Carol Gwin, Adam Hankey, Dr. Glenn Libby (expert), Tom Beyersdorf (or other Gift of Life recordkeeper), Dr. Rudolph Castellani (expert), and Det. Guy Picketts.
Hearing the case is Judge Stephen Miller. The defense attorney is Mark Webb of Marshall and prosecuting Damon are Sarah Lincoln and John Hallacy. The trial is expected to last up to two weeks.