HOT SPRINGS — An Arkansas man has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty in the 2011 death of police dispatcher Dawna Natzke.
Kevin Duck, 33, appeared in Judge John Homer Wright's courtroom in Garland County Circuit Court Friday morning. The jury deliberated for three hours Thursday before recessing for the night. The 12 members convened from 8:30 a.m. Friday until around 9:40 a.m., when they reentered the courtroom to deliver the decision.
Duck was convicted of killing Natzke, his girlfriend at the time, after they left a Christmas party Dec. 21, 2011. Natzke's body was found by volunteer searchers in a pond near the Jessieville community in northern Garland County on Dec. 31.
Duck, wearing a blue button-down shirt with his hair pulled back in a pony tail, waited for the verdict with his palms pressed to the table.
As Wright said "guilty," a few small gasps came from the crowd of people in the courtroom. After the jurors exited the courtroom, a couple of women broke down in tears and embraced.
Sentencing
Before deciding on a life sentence, the jurors heard testimony from several people the state brought to the stand to talk about Duck and how Natzke's death affected them.
A first-degree murder conviction in Arkansas is punishable by anywhere from 10 years to life in prison.
The courtroom listened to Brandon Natzke, one of Dawna's sons, take several steadying breaths before he read a prepared statement on the loss of his mother.
He held back tears and told the jury because of Duck's actions, he and his siblings never got a call from their mom while they were away at college and will never share their wedding days with her. At high school track meets, watching other mothers hug their sons “left us feeling empty,” he said.
Brandon Natzke described his mother as a person that people wanted to be around, whose “smile and laugh” could start a party and who always prioritized her children. Several jurors passed a box of tissues as he told them that no Christmas will ever be the same for their family.
Before he got off the stand, Brandon Natzke said he prays Duck “can come to know that God still loves him.”
“This is a life case," deputy prosecutor Joe Graham told the jury. "Period. End of discussion.”
If not, when Duck gets out, there will be another victim, Graham said, adding that it will likely be “somebody that he so-called loves.”
Defense attorney Brian Johnson told the jury that a 40-year sentence is a long time in prison and asked the jury to show Duck “mercy” by giving him a sentence less than life.
The 12 members deliberated for a short time before returning with a life term.
The trial
Prosecutors laid out the state's closing argument Thursday and reviewed testimony from witnesses at the Christmas party. They said Duck was controlling and angry toward Natzke that night, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The state rested its case at 1:10 p.m. The defense rested its case at 1:45 p.m. without calling any witnesses.
Prosecutors told the jury that Duck was the last one to see Natzke alive, according to investigators.
Duck's father, Luther Duck, testified Wednesday that the pond where Natzke's body was found was less than a mile from his son's childhood home, the paper reported.
A longtime friend of Duck's, Katie Moosebroker, testified Wednesday that Duck had propositioned her for sex the day after Natzke went missing, the paper reported. Graham told jurors in the closing argument that Moosebroker told police before Dec. 31 that Natzke would be found in the pond where Duck and her husband fished.
"That's a whole lot of coincidences," Graham said. "That's too many coincidences."
Defense attorney T. Clay Janske pointed out contradicting statements from party guests about Duck and Natzke's behavior.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.