The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Local News

April 30, 2009

Drunk driver convicted of murder, more

T. J. ROYAL

Derrick McCoy was convicted of second-degree murder Wednesday in Edgecombe County Superior Court for the May 2008 motor vehicle death of a Whitakers teenager.

McCoy, 39, of Rocky Mount, was convicted of murder in the death of 19-year-old Courtney Dickens on May 11, 2008, after the Taurus he was driving struck a Toyota Camry driven by Dickens's boyfriend, Austin Rogers, who survived the May 10 collision. Dickens was pronounced dead later at Heritage Hospital in Tarboro.

The jury, made up of seven black women, four white women and one white man, also convicted McCoy of aggravated felony injury by motor vehicle, driving while impaired, crossing the center line and driving with his license revoked.

Given his previous criminal record, which included a driving while impaired conviction in Nash County April 2008, Resident Superior Court Judge Alma Hinton sentenced McCoy to between 19 and 23 years in prison for the murder and aggravated injury charges.

Rogers, who was in court with relatives during all three days of the trial, said the guilty verdict Wednesday afternoon feels like "a weight lifted off my shoulders."

"It's still hard" to deal with the death of his girlfriend, Rogers said, adding that the judicial process is "over with, and justice has been served."

Joseph and Betty Dickens, the deceased teenager's parents, fought back tears as they told the court their feelings about losing their only child and about the verdict that was levied Wednesday.

Joseph Dickens said several times that he still misses his daughter, while Betty Dickens said "it's just hard ... to just go on without her."

Zyriphia Cutchins, the deceased teenager's half-sister, said that six weeks before the wreck occurred, she and Courtney were talking about how she should continue to live at home while going to school at Edgecombe Community College and also about her possible future with Austin.

Cutchins noted that with Dickens's death, "instead of picking out a wedding dress, we were picking out funeral attire" for her half-sister, who was pronounced dead at 12:22 a.m. at Heritage Hospital on May 11, 2008, Mother's Day.

Two women and one man, who said they were relatives of McCoy but declined to give their names or comment on the verdict, were also in court all three days.

After the session was over Wednesday, Rogers's family and McCoy's family met outside the courtroom and chatted, with Joseph Dickens and McCoy's male relative exchanging contact information.

Lamont Wiggins, McCoy's attorney, said that he would have to "let him make an appropriate choice" about whether his case will be appealed or not. Wiggins added that McCoy will not face additional jail time for the DWI conviction Wednesday, because of it being required as proof used for the murder charge conviction.

After the verdict was read, Wiggins told Judge Hinton that his client was a family man and a "dedicated father" with four children and a wife, who now would not be able to see his children graduate from college nor see his grandchildren born because of his prison sentence.

Wiggins noted, though, that his client has an "alcohol addiction" and fell into a "crowd that did nothing but drink" after he started having issues with his home life.

After McCoy apologized to Rogers's family and Courtney Dickens's family, Judge Hinton noted that McCoy held a disregard not only for other motorists on the road on May 10, 2008, but for himself, as well.

"You could have not only killed (both Dickens and Rogers), but yourself" by driving while impaired, she said.

"Three families have lost here" because of McCoy's actions almost one year ago, Hinton added.

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