William Dickerson was sentenced to death by the State of South Carolina for the murder of Gerard Roper
According to court documents William Dickerson thought that Gerard Roper had sex with his girlfriend on video. Dickerson would torture, sexually assault and murder Gerard Roper
William Dickerson would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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William Dickerson is incarcerated at Broad River
William Dickerson Case
Dickerson and Gerard Roper had been friends, even best friends, since childhood. On the morning of March 6, 2006, Roper went to his friend, Ben Drayton’s, house to play video games. Around the same time, Dickerson went to his friend, Antonio Nelson’s, house asking for a ride to his brother, Armon Dickerson’s, house. Nelson was unable to give Dickerson a ride at that time and told him to come back later. When Dickerson returned later that afternoon, he was carrying a gun.
[716 S.E.2d 899]
En route to Armon’s house, however, Dickerson began calling Roper from his cell phone. After receiving no answer, Dickerson asked if they could make a stop at Drayton’s house so he could “get some money.” When they arrived at Drayton’s home, Dickerson entered brandishing his weapon and asking for money. Roper told Dickerson “I got your money,” begging “don’t shoot me” and “please don’t kill me.” Dickerson nevertheless fired a shot at Roper but missed. He then struck Roper in the head with the gun, dragged him out of the house, and forced him into Nelson’s car. Dickerson then took Roper to Armon’s house. 1
Armon and Dickerson brought Roper inside and systematically tortured him over approximately thirty-six hours. It started with Dickerson continuing to hit Roper with the gun, knocking out some of his teeth. Armon then left to retrieve Dickerson’s car and some drugs, and blood covered the inside of the house when he returned. Dickerson then called another friend of his, Rashid Malik, and threatened him with death if he did not come to Armon’s house. 2 When Malik arrived, [395 S.C. 108] Roper was still conscious but clothed only in his T-shirt, and Armon was attempting to clean up the blood covering the house. Malik then joined Armon and Dickerson.
Although Dickerson, Armon, and Malik all tortured Roper to varying degrees, Dickerson appeared to be the primary actor.3 Through this entire ordeal, Roper suffered the following at the hands of Dickerson alone: choking, being tied up and placed in a closet, being sodomized with a gun and a broomstick, having his scrotum burned, being hit with a heavy vase and a mirror, and generalized beating and cutting. At one point, Roper began asking that they just let him die.
All told, Roper received over 200 individual wounds to the outside of his body, including lacerations to his anus. He also received several internal injuries, including various broken bones in his face that caused it to appear misshapen, blunt force trauma to his neck resulting in the breaking of various structures, a broken tibia, broken fingers and wrist, brain swelling, and bleeding into the internal structures around his rectum as the result of objects being inserted into it. Although there is no definite timeline of events, Roper survived for eighteen to twenty-four hours after the sodomy occurred, and none of these wounds were inflicted post-mortem. No single wound was fatal. Instead, Roper died from the sum total of his injuries, apparently shortly after he was struck with the mirror and the vase on the morning of March 8.
As these events transpired, Dickerson made several phone calls to various people during which he discussed what he was doing to Roper. Many of them were to Dickerson’s girlfriend, and she managed to record one of them containing his description of the sodomy and even Roper’s own confirmation of what was happening. Dickerson also confirmed the sodomy, as well as the burning of Roper’s scrotum, over the phone to another friend. In a later call to that same friend, he said that Roper [395 S.C. 109] was “gone.” However, he told a different friend that Roper was all right but that Dickerson needed to run.
Dickerson and Armon wrapped Roper’s semi-clothed body in a blanket and dumped it in the vacant townhouse next to Armon’s. Dickerson then changed clothes and fled. Armon and Rouse attempted to clean Armon’s house, but they abandoned it upon realizing their efforts would be futile. That same day, a woman who was planning to rent the vacant townhouse entered and discovered Roper’s bloodied and mutilated body.
[716 S.E.2d 900]
William Dickerson was arrested on March 11, 2006, and indicted for murder, kidnapping, and criminal sexual conduct. During voir dire, Juror 370 was the second venireman to be called. He initially identified himself as the type of juror who was able to recommend a sentence of death or life without parole in the appropriate circumstances.
https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/the-state-v-dickerson-895362670
