Closing arguments done, now judge decides if Davenport man killed Breasia Terrell

Celebrating Easter is Shay Moore's favorite memory of Breasia Terrell.

"Breasia was my cousin, and she always came over to the house on Easter," Moore said Tuesday while she stood outside the Scott County Courthouse. "She always wanted to show off the things she got and run around with the kids getting Easter eggs.

"She'd do this little victory dance of hers. She was so happy. That's what I want to remember of Breasia — not the things they had to show in court."

A short time before Moore spoke, the 14-day trial of Henry Earl Dinkins ended after closing arguments. He faces first-degree charges of kidnapping and murder for the July 10, 2020 killing of 10-year-old Breasia.

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Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham delivered the state's close, and assistant Liz O'Donnell provided the state's rebuttal of defense attorney Chad Frese's closing argument.

In her final summation, O'Donnell offered stark imagery far removed from a cousin's cherished memories of Easter, telling a packed courtroom Breasia's life ended in an unfamiliar place at the hands of man she had trusted when she was a small child.

"This was a horrific act committed by a horrific person," O'Donnell said. "The defense is right, this was an execution … Imagine the fear she felt as she was led to those woods … She knew she was going to die."

‘Conjecture, supposition, assumption’

O'Donnell's words were in response to a closing argument from Frese that focused on the lack of physical and eyewitness testimony.

The defense attorney pointed out the state had no blood and no semen tying Breasia or Dinkins to any of the locations prosecutors said they were before or after the murder.

Frese challenged the theory, introduced by Cunningham, that Dinkins took Breasia from the apartment he shared with Andrea Culberson to sexually assault the child in a recreational vehicle on Schmidt Road.

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Frese said "not a trace of Breasia" was found in the RV. And though a bottle of bleach cleaner was found in the RV, Frese asked how Dinkins could have gotten rid of every trace of Breasia.

Frese pointed to the decision of the Davenport Police Department to not test for DNA in the RV and Impala after no blood or semen was detected in either vehicle.

The defense attorney also hammered at the fact no one could put Breasia in the Impala Dinkins drove that night, either before or after the girl was seen standing outside the car at 3:30 a.m. on July 10, 2020.

The state, Frese said, tried to build a case based on circumstantial evidence but only presented " … conjecture, supposition, and assumption."

"The state has an opinion in this case," Frese said. "But that is not evidence. There is not one piece of evidence that shows Henry Dinkins touched this girl. We don't convict people on theories."

Frese called Breasia's killing "an execution."

"Someone stood close to her and pulled that trigger one, two, three times," Frese said. "That takes a special kind of person. That person was not Henry Dinkins."

An explanation

In her closing argument, Cunningham set out to tell the story of what happened to Breasia during the early morning of July 10, 2020, after she disappeared.

The prosecutor reminded the court of the testimony of Culberson, who said she woke up at around 3 a.m. on July 10, 2020, to go to the bathroom. She then discovered that Breasia and Dinkins were not in the apartment.

"Culberson is so disturbed she chooses to sit up, alone, in the living room, in the dark," Cunningham told the court.

"We know Dinkins does not have his cellphone," Cunningham continued. "That's significant. A cellphone documents where it is transported. After abducting a child, the last thing you would want is your phone."

She said Dinkins took the girl from the apartment sometime before 2 a.m. and video surveillance cameras later showed a "dark sedan" traveling north on Schmidt Road at 2:13 a.m. and spent time parked near the RV owned by Dinkins' sister.

Cunningham said Dinkins actually visited the RV twice in a span of 34 minutes. She then posed the question of why Dinkins would take Breasia from the apartment and travel to a location unknown to her.

"His actions speak to his intent," Cunningham said. "This child was sexually assaulted."

Cunningham went on to assert that Dinkins realized he had to kill the child because, as testimony from her mother and grandmother made clear, Breasia was a "truth teller."

Cunningham then focused on the testimony of Breasia's younger brother — called D.L. in court — and Jerod Brink.

Cunningham pointed out that D.L. did his best to describe the area around Kunua Implement in rural Clinton County, as well as the tree-shrouded pond behind the business just off 270th Avenue.

Cunningham turned her attention to the deposition testimony of Brink, who said he helped a "Black man" pull his car from a ditch near the pond. The prosecutor noted that both D.L. and Brink said Dinkins wore a black shirt and shorts with a blue design that morning.

Judge will decide verdict

Dinkins’ trial had been moved from Scott County to the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids after the Supreme Court last year granted a change of venue.

On Aug. 8, Dinkins waived his right to a jury trial, opting to have his case heard in front of a judge. As a result, the trial was held at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport.

A decision in the case will be issued by Judge Henry Latham.