A judge pressed pause Monday on a proposed plea deal for the prime suspect in the 2019 death of Elizabeth Thompson.
Thompson, 82, was shot in the chest by an intruder Oct. 15, 2019, at her Kennedy Drive home off Olive Road. Nine days later, police arrested Andrew Dawson, 22, after an eyewitness claimed she saw him emerging from Thompson’s kitchen window that morning.
Dawson has been jailed without bond since then and was scheduled for trial on murder and felony murder charges this week.
Just over a week ago, however, prosecutors determined that a shoe print found on Thompson’s kitchen sink was not a match to a shoe worn by Dawson, Assistant District Attorney DeShala Dixon told the court. And the eyewitness, who was initially “uncooperative” and vowed never to come to court, is now missing, believed to be in South Carolina but unresponsive to subpoenas, Dixon said.
Thompson’s sisters, grandchildren, nieces and nephews were devastated to learn last week the man believed to be her killer was about to plead guilty to the lesser charges of burglary and possessing a gun while committing a felony. They appeared in court Monday, urging Superior Court Judge Jesse Stone to reject the plea deal.
“He was there. He had a gun. My aunt died,” said Augusta attorney Inga Hicks, requesting her family members be allowed to speak.
“We do not agree with the plea that has been offered by the defendant,” said Bessie Ann Heath, Thompson’s elderly sister. “This was an 82-year-old woman. She was blind. She had severe arthritis. Someone came in and took her life. We feel like we have been treated unjustly.”
Dixon told the court that investigators never located the gun used or a missing Xbox, although based the new charges against Dawson on them. She said she was not with the District Attorney’s office at the time Dawson was indicted for murder.
Stone said the court wasn’t bound by the plea offer and his task was not to “rubber stamp” it.
“We need to slow down this process to give the state another opportunity to bring in that key witness,” Stone said. “Prosecutors’ duty is not just to obtain a conviction, but to obtain justice.”
While the shoeprint was cited in Dawson’s repeated requests for bond, Stone did not grant his public defender’s request to set a bond Monday.
Stone said prosecutors had “not less than 30 days” to locate the witness and reevaluate her claims. The delay will “allow additional time to try to preserve the evidence that’s out there,” Stone said.
Family members expressed relief but still had questions after the hearing ended.
“I can’t understand it; it doesn’t make any sense but if he admits to being there, you know, what else do they need,” the victim’s sister Juanita Allen said.
As a former prosecutor, Hicks said she knew Dawson would be culpable if present for her aunt’s death. She questioned why the case got this far to end in an attempted plea deal.
“During COVID there was no court,” Hicks said. “You had nothing to do but work on cases.”
Hicks said blame “could be shared around amongst the organizations,” but as a former ADA, “I know exactly where the ball lands.”
District Attorney Jared Williams, who took office in 2021, declined to comment on the pending case.
