More than four years after Joseph Hellman was shot, killed and sunk in the Missouri River, his killer was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison after pleading no contest
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Council Bluffs man sentenced to nearly 20 years for 2019 killing of Omaha man
More than four years after an Omaha man was shot, killed and sunk in the Missouri River, his killer was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison after pleading no contest to a reduced manslaughter charge.
On Tuesday, 33-year-old Dalton Dukes was sentenced to 19 years and 11 months in prison for the 2019 killing of Joseph Hellman. Dukes is also serving a 17-year federal sentence after pleading guilty to a methamphetamine conspiracy charge in late 2019.
Dukes was initially charged in 2020 with first-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. In January, the murder charge was reduced to voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea deal. The other two counts were dropped in exchange for his no contest plea to manslaughter.
According to prosecutors, the killing
stemmed from a botched drug deal. In January 2019, Hellman, 37, sold Dukes one pound of methamphetamine in exchange for about $800, iPads and a Michael Kors watch.
Dukes had planned to use the meth to pay off some of his own debts, according to prosecutors, but he quickly realized that it was counterfeit.
On Jan. 29, Dukes went to confront Hellman at a home near 39th and Fort Streets with his girlfriend and other associates. Dukes wanted to pistol-whip and rob Hellman, according to witnesses.
Instead, people in the house at the time heard a “scuffle” and a single gunshot. Dukes left the home with Hellman’s body, drove to an Iowa campground and sunk the vehicle in the Missouri River.
Hellman’s body has not been recovered.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Dukes’ attorney Michael Bianchi said these kinds of killings are an “unfortunate possibility” in the drug trade. Bianchi stated that Dukes had struggled with substance abuse issues since age 12, beginning with alcohol and later morphing into an addiction to meth.
Dukes did not speak at the hearing.
Prosecutors argued that Dukes’ criminal history, which included convictions for arson and domestic assault, put him at a high risk for re-offense. In a brief statement, Hellman’s sister told the judge through tears that her family wants justice.
“I’m not saying he was the best person in the world, but he was a human being,” she said of her brother. “This was inhumane.”
Judge Russell Derr agreed. In handing down the sentence, he noted that Dukes’ criminal record was “really atrocious.”
Dukes will receive 1,097 days of credit for time served. Tuesday’s sentence was ordered to run consecutively to the federal sentence, meaning that Dukes will not begin to serve time on this conviction until the other sentence is finished.
