DAYTON — A 6-year-long “journey for justice” came to an end Tuesday, bringing relief to one local family.
A Montgomery County jury convicted 44-year-old Chuckie Lee for the second time of killing a 20-year-old woman in March 2017.
Taylor Brandenburg died after being gunned down when she stepped outside her cousin’s home.
>> 1 dead after crash in Champaign County
“This should have never happened, it just should never had happened,” Danielle Brandenburg, Taylor’s cousin, said.
Danielle said the delayed justice made Tuesday’s guilty verdicts all the sweeter.
“It was such a relief for everyone in my family to be, like, ‘Thank God,’' she said.
Danielle said her family’s lives changed forever when Taylor was killed while babysitting for a couple in her family. When they returned home, she went outside to greet them, unaware that her cousin had an argument at a bar with Lee.
Lee left the bar after the argument, grabbed a weapon and came to the home, but his wild gunfire didn’t hit the intended target.
“At the end of the day he’s the one that jumped out, he’s the one that fired the gun,” Danielle said. “37 rounds to be exact.”
Lee represented himself in 2018 after repeatedly firing lawyers assigned to him. He later appealed his guilty verdict, claiming he wasn’t ready for trial and the appeals court threw out his conviction.
>> Dayton police investigating death of 60-year-old man as homicide
“I think that was the most frustrating. He gets a new trial because a continuance he didn’t get,” Danielle told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell.
The Brandenburg family is grateful a second jury saw through Lee’s sideshow.
Every holiday, family goes to Taylor’s grave to decorate it with flowers. They feel close to her there, especially since they only have pictures and video to remember her short life.
“It’s gut-wrenching to hear all that, to know that‘s all we’re ever going to hear from her is what we have on video and pictures. He took all that from us,” Danielle said.
Lee was sentenced to 61 years in prison after his first conviction that was vacated. He’ll be sentenced on his second conviction next month.
© 2023 Cox Media Group
