Jury convicts Dimione Walker in Taboo fatal shooting

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Linn County jury on Thursday convicted Dimione Walker of first-degree murder — an execution, the prosecutor said — in the April 10 fatal shooting of Michael Valentine inside the Taboo Nightclub & Lounge in downtown Cedar Rapids.

Walker, who claimed self-defense, briefly looked down as the verdict was read but then started smiling and almost laughing. After the jury left the courtroom, he continued to laugh. He winked at someone in the gallery as he was being taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.

Walker faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole. His sentencing is set for Dec. 16.

During the reading of the verdict, Valentine’s family teared up, and one relative whispered, “Thank you, Jesus.”

The Valentine family “is overjoyed that Michael has received justice,” Anastasia Wilson, the chief victim liaison and community outreach specialist for the Linn County Attorney’s Office, said after the verdict.

‘Executed’

In her closing argument Thursday, Assistant Linn County Attorney Rena Schulte said Walker “executed” Valentine, shooting him seven times in a matter of seconds inside the club.

Valentine “never had a chance,” she said. “He didn’t know Walker was about to end his life.”

Jurors agreed and found Walker, 29, of Coralville, guilty of first-degree murder, going armed with intent and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The verdict was returned in less than 90 minutes, which is the shortest deliberation in recent years for a Linn County murder.

The last jury that reached a verdict quickly was in the Michelle Martinko cold case murder. A Scott County jury found Jerry Burns, who killed 18-year-old Martinko in Cedar Rapids in 1979, guilty in less than three hours.

After the verdict Thursday, Schulte and Assistant County Attorney Shayl Wilson thanked the jurors for their time and thanked the witnesses who testified for “having the courage to stand up against this heinous act of gun violence.”

Schulte also thanked the Cedar Rapids Police Department for “another excellent investigation.”

During Schulte’s closing, she played the surveillance video again for jurors to show how Walker was having a good time, talking to his friends and a woman until he saw Valentine come into the club. Walker started watching him.

As Valentine, 25, of Cedar Rapids, and his friend made their way through the crowd, Walker started moving around and went toward an exit but didn’t leave, Schulte said. If Walker was afraid of Valentine, as his lawyer said in arguing the case for self-defense, why didn’t he go out the door, she asked.

“He had so many opportunities to make a different decision,” Schulte said.

Instead, Walker came back and turned away from Valentine, who hadn’t seemed to notice Walker, but suddenly “spins around” and started firing his semi-automatic gun at Valentine at close range.

Valentine was struck seven times in the face, shoulder, back and hand. An autopsy showed more than one gunshot injury would have been fatal.

Schulte said Valentine was never the aggressor and that Walker didn’t have a reasonable belief he was in danger to justify self-defense.

Defense argument

Sarah Hradek, Walker’s lawyer, said Walker was having fun at the ’90s theme night at the club but that his demeanor changed when he saw Valentine come in.

“He keeps looking at Valentine, and he is concerned,” Hradek said.

Walker started walking quickly toward the exit, but the door was closed and he didn’t know who was on the other side, Hradek said. The exit, she said, was not a convenient place to leave because it opens into a narrow hallway, with stairs or an elevator to get to the main doors.

Walker saw Valentine’s hand come up, and Walker, in a “split second,” turned and shot him, Hradek said. This wasn’t an ambush, she said. Walker used reasonable force on someone he felt was a threat to him.

Hradek also reminded the jury that police officers and a probation officer, in testifying for the defense, said Valentine had been involved with firearms and that an officer found a gun in Valentine’s apartment complex trash can after he’d encountered Valentine.

The probation officer who supervised Valentine in 2015-16 said Valentine violated rules and that he recommended revoking Valentine’s probation five times before Valentine was sent to prison. Valentine was released shortly before the shooting at Taboo.

The prosecutor said there hadn’t been any issues with Walker since 2016, but Hradek said that was only because Valentine had been in prison.

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