Damon Mitchell, stranger convicted of a puzzling killing of a Canton man, gets life term
CANTON ‒ The man who gunned down her brother, Dawn Troyer said, became what he wanted to be: a "gangsta."
Her brother was Steven Q. Troyer of Canton, a 55-year-old husband and a father. He was a guy who worked at Shearer's Foods; a man who'd phoned his mom, Edna, on his lunch break every day.
"You're a coward, a drug abuser ... a thug," Dawn Troyer told 21-year-old Damon Mitchell during Mitchell's sentencing hearing Thursday morning before Stark County Common Pleas Judge Frank Forchione.
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Shortly after, the judge sent Mitchell to prison until at least the year 2062 and perhaps the rest of his life, the most allowed by law.
A jury last week found the Toledo man guilty of three crimes, including murder. Mitchell not only killed Steven Q. Troyer, he fired a dozen more times at Troyer's son, Steven A. Troyer.
Dawn Troyer said she'd looked up background on her brother's killer. What she found, she said, were lots of social media postings of Mitchell with firearms and references to a gangsta lifestyle,
"I congratulate you on reaching your dream," she told him, adding that he's a monster. "You are the worst kind of criminal. You don't need a motive to gun someone down."
Damon Mitchell's 'drug-induced' trip to Canton and murder
No one was sure why Mitchell was in Canton, 160 miles from his home, on that morning of March 10, 2023, or why he was near Steven Q. Troyer's house in the 1300 block of Greenfield Avenue SW.
And no one had a clue why Mitchell said he was there to get parts off a nearby Ford Taurus owned by Steven A. Troyer. After all, the Troyers and Mitchell had never met.
"My guess is this was drug-induced by (methamphetamine)," Forchione told Mitchell.
Stark County Chief Criminal Prosecutor Dennis Barr said it had been a normal day for the father and son Troyers. They were shopping at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore when Steven Q. Troyer's wife, Glenda, phoned to alert them someone was messing with the Taurus.
Trial testimony indicated the Troyers drove to the scene in a truck a short time later. They asked Mitchell what he was doing; told him the Taurus was theirs; they asked him to leave.
Barr said MItchell didn't listen. Instead he pulled a gun. Barr said Mitchell could have fired a warning shot into the air. Better yet, he could have driven away in his Chevy Malibu.
Instead, Mitchell shot Steven Q. Troyer in the face as he sat in the truck.
Mitchell then opened fire on Troyer's son, who fled in his car.
"Callous indifference for human life," Barr said.
The judge had earlier received a pair of letters from Mitchell's family. And one of Mitchell's brothers, Christopher Mitchell, told Forchione his brother had tried to overcome a hard life, adding that he cared deeply for family and friends.
"Damon has tried to be the perfect uncle to my children," he said.
Forchione didn't buy it.
The judge said he couldn't comprehend any reason why someone would shoot a stranger in the face, fire at another stranger, then speed away, only to be caught by the Ohio State Highway Patrol on U.S. Route 30 near Bucyrus while driving 97 miles per hour.
"It was cruel, vile, heartbreaking," Forchione said.
Convicted killer says he's innocent
During the trial, Mitchell's attorney Anthony Koukoutas said prosecutors had the wrong man. Mitchell maintained that same stance during the sentencing hearing. Koukoutas had told his client not to speak because it could ultimately damage his appeals.
Mitchell didn't listen. He wanted to talk, even after the judge had already sentenced him to a minimum of 38 to 43 years behind bars and a maximum of a life sentence.
The sentence, Forchione noted, was confusing because it was for murder, felonious assault and discharge of a firearm near prohibited premises (across a road), along with gun specification penalties in state law. In fact, the judge added, he'd contacted the Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation the day before to verify details of the sentencing package.
Seated next to his attorney, Mitchell spoke.
"I am innocent," he said. "Justice will be served at appeal."
He told the Troyer family he was sorry for their loss. He told Koukoutas he did an "OK," job, but added his attorney "didn't care to help" him. He commended other attorneys and said, "God Bless the Judge."
Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 or tim.botos@cantonrep.com.On X: @tbotosREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Damon Mitchell's life prison term for killing Steven Troyer of Canton
