The second of three men to plead guilty to conspiring to kill Orvin Berg was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday.
Judge Georgia Dawson sentenced David Lynn Hieb, 22, after a hearing in East Central Judicial District Court in Fargo. Dawson suspended 5 years of the sentence.
Hieb pleaded guilty Sept. 28.
He is one of three men who pleaded guilty in connection with the November 2004 hammer murder of Berg in a Fargo apartment. Authorities said Hieb, James William Thompson III, 21, and Travis Allen Jenkins, 21, split about $500 cash and a small amount of drugs after killing Berg and throwing his body into the Red River. The body was found in April.
During Wednesday's sentencing hearing, Cass County State's Attorney Birch Burdick said Hieb, who was stabbed during the struggle to murder Berg, initially told investigators he was wounded during a robbery at a Fargo convenience store. When he was interviewed again, he told officers how he suffered the wound.
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Others involved in the case said Hieb is the one who hit Berg in the head with the hammer, although Hieb denies that.
Hieb's attorney, Bruce Quick, called Hieb's mother to the stand to testify Wednesday.
Tammy Hieb said her son had a troubled youth since the family moved to West Fargo from Harvey, N.D., when he was 9 years old.
As a teenager, he and his father stopped talking after an argument and only began speaking again after the younger Hieb was jailed in the murder.
He underwent inpatient treatment for severe depression and used drugs, Tammy Hieb said.
But during his time in jail, "I'm amazed at how well he's done," studying the Bible, getting baptized and taking a positive attitude, she said.
Quick told Dawson that Hieb identified the other conspirators for police and without him, the murder may not have been solved. Hieb also had only a minor criminal history and the support of his family, Quick said.
Hieb read a statement of apology to Berg's family, none of whom were in the courtroom.
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Burdick asked for a 30-year sentence, while Quick asked for 17 years.
Before imposing the sentence, Dawson told Hieb the brutality of the murder "does stand out from the rest" of the murders that have happened here.
She said she considered his lack of criminal history and the help he provided in catching the other defendants in deciding on the sentence, "but I don't know that there's much else there" meriting mercy.
Hieb did not react to the verdict. Aside from his statement, the only words he spoke were on his way out of the courtroom; as he passed by his family, he said, "I love you guys."
Thompson was sentenced to 25 years in prison in August. A sentencing hearing for Jenkins is scheduled Dec. 20.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Tom Pantera at (701) 241-5541
