Frank Fernandez|The Daytona Beach News-Journal
“I shot Geno.”That was the last text message Damian DeRoushasent to his wife the morning of Feb. 4, 2021.
DeRousha had confirmed earlier that morning that his wife, Shauna,washaving an affair with Donald Geno, said Assistant State Attorney Ashley Terwilleger in her opening statement Tuesday in Damian DeRousha's murder trial.
Geno and the DeRoushas all worked for Volusia County.Damian DeRousha was a special projects coordinator in janitorial services.Shauna DeRousha was an inventory control specialist in the parts departmentand Geno was a mechanic at the county's maintenance facility at 1270 Indian Lake Road, Daytona Beach.
That morning, Damian DeRousha confrontedGeno, 31, about the affair and then pulled out his Walther pistoland shot him, Terwilleger said.A coworker saw part of the shooting.
“What he sees is the defendant pausing over Donald Geno’s body and he then starts firing more shots until he empties his clip in Donald Geno’s body,”Terwilleger said.
Damian DeRousha shot Geno eight times, said Terwilleger, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak.
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If convicted of first-degree murder,Damian DeRousha, 44, faces a mandatory life in prison without parole. Circuit Judge Karen Foxman is presiding over the trial at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach.
Geno's family members filled much of the prosecutor'sside of the courtroom whileseveral of Damian DeRousha's family members occupied a bench on the defense side.
A deadly confrontation
In hisopening statement, Assistant Public Defender Larry Avallone said that Damian DeRousha had a valid concealed carry permit and carried a gun everywhere, so he had one that morning when he went to work.
Avallone said DamianDeRoushasuspected his wife was having an affair and had hidden a voice-activated recording device in her car. His wife had admitted to cheating on him twice before, Avallone said.
Damian DeRoushatook the recording device with him to work and by 9:30 a.m. he had listened to it. And he recognized a man'svoice on the recorder as a coworker he knew well, a friend who had gone to his house, Avallone said.
Damian DeRousha was upset andtold his supervisor that he needed to take some time off. Hesaid he was going to his brother's house,Avallone said. But his brother was not answering the phone, so DeRoushaparked at a gas stationand texted his wife who deniedthe affair.
Avallone said that since she deniedthe affair, Damian DeRoushadecidedto drive back to work and talk to her to get her to admit the affair. But she had left,soDeRousha decidedto talk to Geno.
Avallone said that Damian DeRousha was not expecting a violent confrontation with Geno, whom hehad known for five years.Avallone said DeRousha was going to tell him that he knew about the affair and it needed to end.
But Avallone said that Geno toldDeRousha that he would not end the affair and would continue to see her.
Avallone said this was not a straight-forward case.
Shauna DeRousha, who now lives in Palm Coast, was among the people testifying onTuesday. Sheis no longer employed by the county.
She testified that she began a sexual relationship with Geno in January 2021 and that they would exchange photos and flirt at work. She said the relationship had ended a couple of weeks before the shooting.
Shauna DeRoushaalso testified that on the morning of the shooting, she had shown her phone to Geno to lethim know her husband knew about the affair.
She also said she had texted DeRousha that morning that she loved him; he asked her how she could love him when she was cheating on him.
Shauna DeRoushawas cross-examined by 7th Circuit Public Defender Matt Metz,who is prosecuting the case along with Avallone.
Metz asked her whether the couple had developed a kind of pattern with her admitting to unfaithfulness and then workingthings out, but that in this case she had not admitted it.She agreed with those characterizations.
Metz asked if she was in fear of physical violence that morning. She said she wasn’t.
'I heard two gunshots'
Kenneth Hartling, a Volusia County mechanic, testified on Tuesday that he workedin the bay next to Geno. Hartling said Geno was workingon an excavator that morning.
Hartlingsaid he saw Damian DeRousha speaking to Geno and said they just appeared to be talking. He said he did not hear Geno, whom Hartling called “Donnie,” raise his voice or see him raise his arms.
Hartling testified he turned to get a hand truck.
“I heard two gunshots,” Hartling said.
He said he turned around to see what was happening.
“I saw Donnie on the ground on his back,” Hartling said.
“He was standing over him. I saw him shoot him four times,” Hartling said, meaning after the initial two gunshots.
Damian DeRousha then walked away, saidHartling, who called 911.
Under cross-examination byAvallone, Hartling testified he did not see the shooting start.
Volusia County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Lewis was the first to arrive.
Lewis said he spotted Damian DeRousha, who appeared upset; the deputy suspected he was involved.
He detained DeRousha, who made statements such as “my life’s over,” Lewis testified.
Lewis quoted DeRousha as saying “I killed himbecause he was having sexual intercourse with my wife."
During cross examination by Avallone, Lewissaid that DeRousha started crying at one point.
Avallone asked Lewis ifDeRousha also made the statement "I lost my (expletive), I can't even think straight."
Lewis said he did.
Urbanak played a video of an interview with detectives in which DeRousha tells them that he had no injuries.
He also tells them “I lost my mind.”
A detective asks “and you shot him?”
“Yes,” DeRousha answered.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
