Dylan Reeves may have been high on Mucinex when he plunged a knife into a 21-year-old acquaintance 13 times the evening of Dec. 3 2018.
But after deliberating for less than two hours Thursday, a Dauphin County jury found he was in control of himself enough to plan the stabbing of Daniel Kelly, which met the requirements for a first-degree murder conviction.
“‘The cold medicine made him do it,’” prosecutor Jack Canavan mockingly said as he began his closing argument Thursday morning.
“He is an arrogant kid who got mad somebody challenged him,” Canavan said. “He was in control and wanted to kill [Kelly].”
Canavan described the murder as a premeditated thrill kill. Reeves said Kelly thought he was as good as him, and thought they were equal, so Reeves built a trusting relationship with Kelly to lure him to his death, according to Canavan.
“We were nothing!” Canavan quoted Reeves as saying. “‘That whiny (expletive) kept talking about turning his life around.”
Several factors about the murder led Canavan to tell the jury Reeves not only planned it out, but attempting to protect himself afterward, which does not indicate disassociation by Mucinex.
Despite saying he had no control over his actions, Reeves acted out of self-preservation in the commission of the murder, according to Canavan.
Reeves lured Kelly away and threw him over a bridge into lines above brush where it would not have been found, as opposed to killing Kelly—or anyone else he interacted with that day—in the street. Additionally, despite using the knife on Kelly 13 times, Reeves never used it to harm himself nor did he throw himself off the bridge either, Canavan said.
Reeves then left the scene of the murder off the path to avoid being found, Canavan said, and brought his hoodie up to avoid being identified as a suspect. Reeves also bought a bus ticket to leave Harrisburg for State College the same night—all of which indicates consciousness of guilt.
Six days prior to the murder, Reeves had scouted the location, according to Canavan. Reeves had several photos of bridges along the Capital Greenbelt, saying he enjoyed photography and architecture—but Canavan said Reeves killed Kelly five feet from where one of the photos was taken.
Earlier that day, Reeves texted somebody that he planned to “let off some anger” that night, and later told someone else he intended to kill Kelly by luring him away, sedating him with drugs and strangling him, Canavan said.
Reeves had the knife as backup—”if necessary”, Canavan said. Canavan said Reeves did exactly what he set out to do: Kill Kelly. And after he did so, Reeves disposed of his shoes, which had blood on them.
Finally, Canavan touched on the precision in which Reeves executed the killing: He stabbed Kelly in the heart, lungs, stomach, liver and kidney.
“He was in such control, he managed to hit every vital organ on Daniel Kelly and carved out his throat,” Canavan said.
As Canavan discussed the precision of the knife wounds, he displayed a raw photo of Kelly’s mutilated corpse to the jury. Kelly’s mother, sitting in the front row some feet from the jury, departed the courtroom in tears at the sight of the wounds on her son’s corpse.
Nobody in court had any doubt Reeves killed Kelly, but Reeves’ lawyers attempted to knock the first-degree murder charge down to a third-degree conviction instead.
Kaitlyn Clarkson, one of Reeves’ lawyers, argued in her closing statements Reeves had taken 16 Mucinex pills that night and was disassociating from himself to the point of not having control of his body.
“Dylan was so overpowered, he lost control of his faculties and was incapable of forming specific intent to kill,” Clarkson argued.
Reeves was addicted to dextromethorphan, a chemical found in Mucinex, according to Clarkson. Highs reached as a result of Mucinex abuse often invoke hallucinations, disassociation, distortion of reality, a loss of control, and suicidal and homicidal ideations, she said.
For years, Reeves demonstrated these symptoms as he abused DMX. He checked in to hospitals four times to get help with his addiction, and each time after leaving, went right back to abusing the substance, according to Clarkson.
On the third weeks-long hospital visit from August through September of 2018, Reeves said he had thoughts of killing himself and others and takes around a gram of DXM every 24 hours—or, 16 Mucinex pills a day—coupled with paralleled use of marijuana and alcohol every day.
“He was homeless and needed help,” Clarkson said.
“I felt this sense of impending doom. I felt this situation was approaching and was getting closer and closer. I felt stronger and stronger, and I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen or not,” Reeves said, detailing what he was feeling as he and Kelly approached the scene where the latter would be killed.
Reeves was found guilty of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. The mandatory minimum sentence for first-degree murder is a life sentence in prison.
READ MORE:
Pa. man claimed he was not in control when he stabbed his companion 13 times
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