Family speaks out after killer sentenced

Blair Turpin was too young at 11 years old to be in Courtney Servais’ bridal party, and Turpin didn’t want to hand out brochures during her sister’s wedding.

Instead, Blair volunteered to sing.

“I was flat the whole time,” Blair said.

On Dec. 18, Blair and Courtney talked about her performance during Courtney’s wedding. They sat in a wicker loveseat on their mother’s back porch during the cold winter night, chatting for about four hours.

Courtney said she wanted to be in Blair’s wedding.

“Sure,” Blair said. “I’m going to make you sing.”

“I ought to be your maid of honor,” Courtney responded. “Don’t put me in anything strapless.”

‘She’s not coming back’

More than 11 months after Courtney disappeared on Dec. 19, family gathered in her grandmother’s living room. A picture of Courtney in her wedding dress hung above the television.

Dennis Lee Daniel, Courtney’s killer, received three life sentences plus 10 years and a $100,000 fine Monday after six days of trial in Pittsylvania County Circuit Court. Daniel was charged with capital murder, but Judge Charles Strauss struck that charge Monday and reduced it to first-degree murder because of lacking evidence of the killing’s connection to the robbery.

Courtney’s family said they were disappointed that the capital murder charge was reduced.

Blair said the death penalty wouldn’t have been a suitable punishment for Daniel’s brutal killing of Courtney.

“She’s not coming back,” Blair said. “And it’s just unfair. Until that part of him is gone, it’ll never be the same.”

The family said they want capital murder statutes changed. To be convicted of capital murder in Virginia, the prosecution must prove that a first-degree murder occurred in the commission of another serious felony, in Daniel’s case, robbery. The jury can impose the death penalty if one of the two aggravators are found: the crime’s depravity of mind or the defendant’s future dangerousness.

The family said prosecutors should have to prove first-degree murder and aggravators to make a defendant eligible for the death penalty. 

‘A bright future’

The family said they received a tremendous amount of support from the community during the search for Courtney and during Daniel’s trial. Servais went missing Dec. 19 and wasn’t found until Dec. 24.

Investigators from Halifax and Pittsylvania counties stayed for the rest of the trial after finishing their testimony.

David Grimes, the commonwealth’s attorney for Pittsylvania County, and Carrene Walker, an assistant in the office, handled the prosecution. Grimes tried to shield the family from the brutality of the crime. Courtney had a closed-casket funeral because of the damage Daniel did to her body and face.

Grimes showed the jury photos of Courtney’s autopsy during the trial. He set up the projector toward the jury so no one in the gallery could see the photographs. He also tried to keep the images from the family.

“He’d been talking us out of it all year,” said Lawrence Turpin, Courtney’s father.

But Blair wanted to see them and persisted.

“I wanted to know what he did,” Blair said. “It’s a difference between imagining what you should hate and knowing what you should hate.”

Family said Courtney had a huge heart, was friendly and outgoing. She was a fireball, a daddy’s girl and Little Miss Danville.

And though the trial is over, Blair said she hasn’t let go of the emotions that built up over the last year.

“She had a bright future,” she said. “And she was robbed of that. I miss her every day.”