(Update: Sentence is expected to be 10 years in prison and five years of probation.)
The sisters of a blind and disabled 82-year-old woman who was fatally shot in her Augusta home are “disgusted” that prosecutors plan to drop the suspect’s murder charges to burglary and weapon possession.
Juanita Allen and Bessie Ann Heath have reached out to local media to describe how they feel about Monday’s expected plea bargain. They say charges of malice murder and felony murder in the death of their older sister Elizabeth Thompson will be dismissed in a deal with suspect Andrew Dawson. They have been told to expect a sentence of 10 years in prison and five years of probation.
“This is a grave injustice to us, not only to us but to our sister,” Allen said. “There she was in her own home, bothering nobody, and somebody going to break in and take her life and then walk away. This has hurt each and every one of us. I don’t wish that on anyone.”
District Attorney Jared Williams declined comment on the reason for the plea, saying he can’t discuss it until after the case is resolved. Prosecutors are legally and ethically prevented from commenting on pending cases.
But the family says they were told that prosecutors have no evidence Dawson was guilty of murder.
The murder on Kennedy Drive. The victim went by the nickname “Libert” and loved to play cards with her family, cook and go shopping. But her eyesight and health had declined, limiting her activities, according to Heath. Still, Thompson wanted to do things independently, refusing much help.
Still dressed in her pajamas, Dawson was alone in her two-bedroom home on Kennedy Drive on the morning of Oct. 15, 2019. A neighbor heard loud noises next door, like someone kicking in a door. After a third noise, the neighbor looked out her window and saw a young man with short dreadlocks climb out of a back window with a wrapped object in his hand. She called 911, telling investigators that she recognized him as the same man who tried to sell her lawn equipment.
Officers found the elderly victim dead from at least one gunshot to the chest. A TV in her room was on, and the position of her body suggested that she heard a noise and left her room to investigate.
Thompson’s grandson – who lived with her – had been at a dialysis treatment that morning. He discovered a few days later that an Xbox One gaming console was missing from his room.
Dawson, 22 years old at the time, was identified by the neighbor through his Facebook name “Two Street Rock.” He was arrested nine days after the crime.
During a 2019 bond hearing, prosecutors said there was evidence that Dawson sold a gaming console after Thompson was killed. A judge denied bond, and the suspect has been sitting in jail for three and a half years, even as the pandemic delayed many murder cases from reaching resolution.
Why not go to trial? The victim’s sisters preferred a trial, even if it was a weak case that risked a not-guilty verdict. They have had sleepless nights thinking about their sister’s death and the outcome of the murder case. On Wednesday, they were called downtown because the judge was trying to come up with something to “close the case,” Allen said. Assistant District Attorney Deshala Dixon told them about the plea agreement.
“Personally, I don’t think he was interested in our input,” Allen said about the district attorney. “I think they already had in mind what they were going to do. I think they were just meeting with us, wasting our time.”
Heath added, “We want him to know he has not handled this case right, and he has not helped us in anyway get justice.”
They wanted Dawson to serve a long prison sentence.
“My sister was 82 years old, in her own home, and blind. He didn’t have to kill her,” Allen said. “He could have moved her out of the way. But he broke in on her, and then shot her in the chest and killed her. And then they say that he is going to admit to burglary but not shooting her, and then let him walk.”
With credit for time served in jail, Dawson could be free without serving much time.
“It seems like it is the easiest thing for them to plea out,” Allen said. “We had pleaded for a trial. That is what we wanted. We wanted a trial. No plea. No nothing. I told them I was willing to take my chances on a trial.
“What is he doing by letting people walk away without getting no kind of justice? How can we live with that?”
