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Couple make 1st appearance in murder case

By Dee Henry | Hickory Daily Record

Published: July 27, 2009

TAYLORSVILLE - A husband and wife charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping requested court appointed attorneys at their first court appearance Monday.

Neither Lisa Damron, 31, nor her husband, Jerry, 42, showed any emotions as they were lead into district court separately. Both were shackled hand and foot, wearing orange jailhouse jumpsuits and heavily guarded.

Lisa Damron, 31, looked dazed as she was brought into the courtroom in the Alexander County Courthouse first thing Monday to appear before District Court Judge Deborah Brown.

When Jerry Damron came into the courtroom after lunch, he was under heavy guard by four officers — Capt. Keith Warren, Sgt. Det. Chad Pennell and Sgt. Det. Tim Simms, all of the Alexander County Sheriff's Office and Det. Sgt. Lisa Johnson of the Taylorsville Police Department.

Both Damrons seemed unaffected by the presence of the officers or the charges against them. Neither showed any emotion when Judge Brown advised them against representing themselves.

Both appearances were short, with little discussion and no comments from the Damrons. Both are still being held in the Alexander County jail under no bond. Jerry and Lisa Damron requested court-appointed attorneys through the Indigent Defense Service in Durham. Their next appearance is set for Monday, Aug. 10.

"The reason we set it for then is in case they request a probable cause hearing, because they are entitled to a probable cause hearing within 10 to 15 weeks," said Brandon Crouse, an assistant district attorney in North Carolina District 22-A, which covers Iredell and Alexander counties.

Crouse said the case might go before the grand jury as soon as mid to late August with the actual trial beginning in six months to one year from now.

Jerry and Lisa Damron are facing first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping charges from Alexander County. They are accused of killing Kelly Ross Lynette Culley, 42, of Ridge Lane in Hiddenite.

Culley's body was discovered in the cargo section of their van when Wythe County, Va., authorities stopped Lisa Damron along Interstate 77 for driving erratically. She was charged with driving while impaired and reckless driving.

The two waived extradition and returned to Alexander County on Friday to face the murder and kidnapping charges from that jurisdiction.

They also face charges of felony transporting a dead body with malicious intent to prevent detection of an unlawful act from Virginia authorities.

Jerry Damron also was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, three charges of having a concealed weapon and felony assault on a police officer after the stop in Virginia.

The couple is awaiting court appearances in Caldwell County on charges connected to a one-car vehicle accident Sept. 26, 2008, in which their 8-year-old son, Hauston, was killed. Jerry Damron was charged with DWI and felony death by motor vehicle in that case.

Lisa Damron and the couple's six children between the ages of 8 and 1-year-old were in the vehicle at the time of the crash. She was charged with six counts of child abuse, aid and abet impaired driving, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of schedule II and IV controlled substances at that time.

The surviving children have been in the custody of the Department of Social Services since the accident.