Marcus Dansby

I am a bit disappointed with this case and the information that I found available, but it is not necessarily that unusual when a defendant pleads guilty and forgoes a trial. I had a little ray of hope when another lawsuit was filed and it looked as if an interesting legal question would be answered but I later learned that the lawsuit was dropped.

When I research a case, it is fairly simple. I start with a name that I throw into a Google search and then I add “and murder” unless of course I have a notation that it may possibly not be a murder case. If I have some difficulty finding what I need or sorting through results I will sometimes add a location. I generally go through about three or four pages to get most of what I need. I will also look at department of corrections websites and may check a few things throughout to clarify but that it usually all that it takes. This case took me through more than six pages in the initial search because the perpetrator, Marcus Dansby, received an unusual long sentence that had his case make international attention. And that was the problem here. News of Dansby's sentence pretty much overtook the information on him. Add to the fact that he ultimately pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty means there was not a trial, nor was there an appeal to read and get information about exactly what evidence there was and what exactly happened.

Marcus Dansby lived in Fort Wayne Indiana and apparently at least for a time period dated a girl named Dajahiona Arrington. In 2016 Dajahiona was eighteen and Marcus was twenty. It is not clear how long they dated but the theory is that Dajahiona got pregnant and it was believed that the child was not Marcus'. They had split up sometime around March of 2016 when she was just a few months pregnant. Dajahiona lived with her mother, thirty-seven year old Consuela, and her eighteen year old brother, Traeven Harris. Fourteen year old Trinity Hairston also lived in the home and I got the impression that she too was a daughter to Consuela but I could not determine that for sure. It also appears that Consuela's brother may have lived in the basement of their home.

Around four in the morning of September 11, 2016 a 911 call was made. I was not able to determine who for certain made the call, nor was I able to determine exactly what police officers knew before they made their way into the Arrington home. What I can say is that they walked into a slaughter. It was said that officers knew for certain that some of the victims were dead already, while some were simply barely alive. They were also met with a bloody and crazed Marcus Dansby. Consuela's brother may have been the one to make the call considering it was reported that he had apparently heard something upstairs and when he went up he saw his nephew, Traeven, on floor of the kitchen. There was an indication that he may have also seen Dansby still committing the crime, but I cannot be certain. There is also a possibility that the 911 call could have even come from Dansby. It was said that while he was found covered in blood and with a knife, he also had a phone in his hand. The responding officer stated that when he arrived at the home he found Dansby crawling on his hands and knees saying “Why aren't you helping them? They're still breathing and you are just standing there.”

Consuela, Traeven, Dajahiona and her unborn baby would all die from gunshot and knife wounds. Trinity Hairston would have life threatening injuries but would survive after several surgeries and lots of rehabilitation. It seems initially Dansby, who proclaimed his innocence was arrested on three counts of murder. After autopsies were performed on the victims the medical examiner determined that Dajahiona's child was eight and a half months gestation and had she not died, her child would have lived. At that point Dansby was charged with an additional count of murder.

Despite the evidence against him Dansby told a very different story to authorities. He told them that he and Dajahiona had been on the porch of the home talking and that someone had come up to them and “mugged” him. He stated that while the “real perpetrator” was murdering the victims he was hiding in a closet in the home. He apparently was very specific on which closet he was in and authorities would say that not only were there too many items in the closet that would allow the door to close, it was too full to make it possible that he could have been hiding in there. For a time period Dansby alleged that the knife that allegedly had been found on him was “planted” by authorities.

Prosecutors announced that they were seeking the death penalty against Dansby. He was charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for the attack against Trinity. Prosecutors had apparently offered Dansby a plea deal that would give him life without the possibility of parole but would eliminate the death penalty if he were convicted. Dansby refused that offer and planned to take his case to trial. He was being represented by an attorney named Nikos Nakos. According to Nakos' profile he is a personal injury and medical malpractice attorney. He was apparently hired by Dansby's family. In January of 2018 the judge, Fran Gull, removed Nakos from the case. She cited that Nakos did not have training in death penalty cases and she then reassigned him a public defender.

This of course delayed proceedings no matter how you looked at it. First, they were delayed more because new attorneys were assigned and had to have time to look over the case and prepare their defense. Secondly, the new attorneys, in conjunction with Nakos filed an appeal with the courts, arguing that the judge had made an error when she dismissed Nakos. Public defenders were in fact required to have a particular amount of training for death penalty cases, the lawsuit argued that it did not apply to privately hired attorneys. Nakos claimed that while he did not have the “specific” training, he was competent to try the case and by dismissing him the judge had violated Dansby's right to have the attorney of his choosing. When the lawsuit was filed in March of 2018 it was said that the proceedings were basically put on hold until the courts made a decision in that matter. I was hopeful in learning what the court would decide in this matter.

I have often said in my blogs that I am as curious and interested in the crimes that I write about as I am about the law itself. This new lawsuit was interesting to me. The question became whether a person had the right to choose an attorney of their choice regardless whether the courts felt they had the skill to represent them. It really can be a slippery slope in a way. Had Nikos Nakos continued to represent Dansby and he was convicted and sentenced to death he may have had a legitimate claim in arguing “ineffective counsel.” The argument for ineffective counsel is so commonplace that most judges do not even take the argument seriously. It is always the first thing a convicted person argues in an appeal and they will continue to try that argument over and over. But, from time to time there is the legitimate claim that a lawyer did not give their client the best defense. While Nikos Nakos could claim that he was qualified to defend Dansby, that does not mean that he actually was. In the end a few short months after filing the appeal to keep Nakos on as Dansby's defense attorney, the public defenders that had filed the case filed a motion to dismiss and it was granted by the courts. It is unclear whether Nakos was able to be a co-counsel in the case in the end with the public defenders, who themselves had defended death penalty cases, taking the lead.

In May of 2019 a significant change in the case occurred. Marcus Dansby changed his plea from not guilty to guilty. However, from my understanding this was done without a written agreement with the prosecutors. As I stated earlier, Dansby had turned down a plea offered by the prosecutors for life without parole. It seems that this time he was at the mercy of the court and the judge. One can only assume that one of two things had happened, a) the prosecution refused to deal any further or b) Dansby and his attorney's figured they had nothing to lose by giving sentencing solely up to the judge.

On July 25, 2019 Marcus Dansby went into court to be sentenced. Before the judge made her ruling Dansby told his family that he loved them and appreciated that they had supported him. Then he turned to the family of his victims and stated “I don't care how you guys feel. You guys can feel how you want to feel.” When it was time for the judge to speak to expressed her belief that Dansby was mentally ill and that he had a “difficult childhood” but knew that he had in no way expressed remorse or taken responsibility for his actions. In the end the judge gave him sixty-one years for each of the four counts of murder, thirty-six years for the attempted murder of Trinity and an additional twenty years for the use of a firearm. On top of this the judge ordered that the sentences run consecutively, meaning one after another. His total sentence was 300 years. According to the Indiana Department of Corrections his earliest release dates is in the year 2241.

As I stated in the beginning researching and finding information on this case was rather difficult. It was repeatedly pointed out that Dajahiona was eight and a half months pregnant and that she and Dansby had split because the child was not his. There were all indications that this was the motive for the murders and while it does not seem logical for him to murder Dajahiona AND her family over this, murder is rarely logical. That being said, a DNA test was done on the baby after his death and it was determined that the child was in fact Dansby's child. If in fact the motive behind the crime stemmed from the fact that Dansby believed the child that Dajahiona was carrying was not his, then despite the fact that most murders are senseless, this one is even more so.