Singer Chaka Khan’s Son is Acquitted

- The Daily Breeze May 6, 2006

Singer Chaka Khan’s son was acquitted Friday of charges stemming from the shooting death of his 17-year-old friend in his mother’s Westchester home.

The verdict, reached after about three days of deliberations, means the Airport Courthouse jury believed Damien Patrick Holland, 27, accidentally killed Christopher Bailey when he jabbed him with an M-16 assault rifle on Sept 24,2004.

Reached by phone minutes after the verdict was read, Bailey’s grandmother, Marlene,Bailey, was in tears. She said it felt like her grandson was killed “all over again.” “I think it’s a terrible injustice,” she said. “Another celebrity has gotten away with murder.”

Deputy District Attorney Larry Droeger said Holland’s famous mother “might have played some factor” in the verdict, but believed the outcome was based more on Holland’s in-court persona as a “goofball”

Holland was able to convince the jury he did not have any evil intent, Droeger said. “And he was the kind of guy who would stumble around and do something stupid like this,” Droeger added. “They were able to get some sympathy for him,” Proeger said.

Holland’s attorney, Milton C. Grimes, said his client reacted quite emotionally to the verdict. “It was a holler from the depth of his soul that probably reverberated around the courtroom,” Grimes said.

“He’s deeply sorry for what happened,” Grimes said. “He kept wanting to talk to (Bailey’s) family, and I kept having to restrain him from doing that because I didn’t think it was the right time. “I know he sincerely regrets this, but he’s quite relieved,” Grimes added.

He said Khan had an out-of-state commitment, but they spoke on the telephone and she talked to some of the jurors to thank them for giving her son another chance.

“It was a strenuous case because I felt he was not guilty,” Grimes said. “But proving it to a jury was another task. But they saw the case the way we saw the case that it was unfortunate, but it was an accident”

In tearful testimony last week, Holland told the jury Bailey came over to the home where he lived with his mother, girlfriend and toddler daughter to discuss an affair Bailey claimed he had with Holland’s girlfriend.

Holland said he armed himself with the rifle because he did not at first recognize one of the men who arrived with Bailey.

Using a toy replica, Holland showed the jury how he carried the gun and how he jabbed it at Bailey when Bailey abruptly turned to him. Holland said he didn’t even know the gun had gone off until Bailey, an aspiring rap artist whom Holland had taken into his home and under his wing, fell to the floor, his face bleeding.

Holland originally told police officers that he and Bailey struggled, and he shot in self-defense. He had a friend punch him in the face to bolster his story. Holland said he never meant to kill Bailey and apologized to Bailey’s family.

Khan, a multiplatinum recording artist with many hits including “I Feel for You,” told the jury her son was gentle and compassionate and she believed he accidentally shot Bailey.

The jury had the option of convicting Holland on charges ranging from first-degree murder down to involuntary manslaughter. The maximum he faced was 25 years to life in prison.

Droeger argued to the jurors that they should find Holland guilty of murder because he was in the process of kidnapping Bailey, who he was ordering around at gunpoint.