On September 1, 1986, Clinton Dickens, 17 1/2, and Richard Cooey, 19, kidnapped, robbed, raped, and murdered 20-year-old Dawn McCreery and 21-year-old Wendy Offredo. Cooey was sentenced to death and executed for the murders. Dickens was sentenced to life with parole after 95 years. However, SB 256 has reduced his sentence by two-thirds and made him eligible for parole after 30 years. His parole hearing is scheduled for October 2021.
Dawn and Wendy’s Night of Terror
The murders of Dawn and Wendy sound like a horror movie. The girls had finished their waitressing shifts and were driving to an inn when they ran into Dickens, Cooey, and one other man, who had all been throwing objects off an overpass for fun. After their car was struck by a large concrete chunk thrown by Dickens, the women pulled over. The three men drove Wendy and Dawn to a mall where Wendy called her mother on a payphone. At the mall, Dickens noticed money in Wendy’s purse and suggested to the other men that they rob the women. It was the beginning of a night of terror.
The three men and the two women left the mall. But instead of taking Dawn and Wendy to Wendy’s car, the men kidnapped them. The other man left and Cooey and Dickens took the girls to an isolated wooded area in Norton where they raped them. During the rapes, Cooey said, “Hey, Clint, put on the Bad Company tape.” Because the girls knew Dickens’ first name, he decided to murder them to prevent them from identifying him. He informed Cooey of this plan. The men beat the women with a nightstick and strangled them with shoelaces.
Learn more about the murders of Dawn and Wendy here.
Justice for Dawn and Wendy
Cooey was executed for the murders in 2008. Cooey’s involvement in the murders was no more horrific than Dickens’ involvement. And Cooey was not more able to understand the wrongfulness of the crimes than Dickens was. He just happened to be over the magical age of 18 at the time. It makes no sense that Cooey can be executed for the murders, yet Dickens, who acted with the same level of brutality and who had the same ability to comprehend the crimes, can be paroled.
A Six-Month Age Difference Made No Difference
Dickens was about six months away from his 18th birthday when he committed these evil crimes. His juvenile status did not render him less capable of understanding the wrongfulness of kidnapping, terrorizing, raping, and murdering two young women. He was completely aware of the consequences of his crimes but committed them anyway for his own enjoyment. Had he been six months older, nothing about Dickens’ intent, his ability to understand the wrongfulness of his acts, the severe and evil nature of the murders, or the suffering of Wendy and Dawn would have changed. The only thing that would have changed would have been his age.
Upon learning that Dickens was 17 while Cooey was 19, some people would assume that the older offender, Cooey, led and pressured the younger offender, Dickens. But it largely seems to be the other way around with Dickens leading Cooey. Dickens came up with the idea of robbing the women. Dickens decided to murder Dawn and Wendy because they had heard his first name. Dickens gave Cooey a shoelace, which Cooey used to strangle Wendy. Dickens strangled Dawn with the other shoelace. Dickens appears to have been a driving force behind the murders. And the fact that he was 17 and six months old doesn’t change that.
Dickens’ appalling acts cannot be explained by his youthful brain. He did not display typical youthful traits to a large extent. In fact, he acted with criminal maturity, and consideration of consequences–he murdered the women to prevent them from reporting the crimes and identifying him. He knew that a consequence of kidnapping, robbing, and raping Dawn and Wendy was having them report the crimes. And he knew that they would be able to identify him by his first name, as they had heard Cooey call him by it. (“Hey, Clint, put on the Bad Company tape”). He prevented those consequences by eliminating them as witnesses. He took additional measures to hide the crimes, such as brushing away tire tracks with branches.
Despite Dickens’ evil crimes, despite his ability to comprehend the wrongfulness of his actions, and despite the fact that Dickens was a leader through the crimes–from deciding to rob the women to deciding to kill them to providing murder weapons–his 95-to-life sentence has been slashed to 30 years to life. All because he was six months away from his magical 18th birthday when he committed the brutal crimes.
An Arbitrary Imbalance
Had Clint Dickens been 18, he would have been eligible for the death penalty. Based on the fact that his 19-year-old co-defendant received the death penalty, it is reasonable to assume that, had Dickens been over 18, he would have received this penalty as well. In fact, had Dickens received the death penalty, it is likely he would have been executed–the murders were 35 years ago and his accomplice was executed in 2008.
The only thing that prevented Dickens from paying the ultimate price was the fact that he was under the arbitrary age of 18. There was an insignificant age difference between Cooey and Dickens–Cooey was about 19 years and two months old, whereas Dickens was about 17 years and six months old. The two men were less than two years apart. This age difference has resulted in a significant disparity between sentences, even though it had no impact on either of the offenders’ parts in the crime. Cooey is dead. Dickens, on the other hand, could be paroled and live freely in society. It makes no sense that two equally culpable offenders, whose actions are equally as heinous, and who have an equal capacity to understand those actions, can be given such different sentences based on an arbitrary age difference.
Dickens avoided a death sentence based purely on being six months under 18. Dickens’ actions were so heinous that they would have resulted in his execution if he had been just six months older. The crimes were so heinous that they were determined to warrant the execution of his slightly older co-defendant. For these reasons, he should not be eligible for parole. If he can’t get the death penalty, he should get the next most serious penalty after death, which is life in prison without a chance for parole or the equivalent, such as 95 years to life. Otherwise, there is an imbalance based on an arbitrary line, that line being the age of 18. One can be executed for a crime committed on their 18th birthday, but someone one day younger who commits the same crime has to have a chance to be paroled. This is absurd.
Our coalition takes no position on the death penalty or Cooey’s execution. We will, however, point out the fact that, due to SB 256/the Teen Killer Empowerment Act, there is a stark difference between Cooey and Dickens’ punishments, a difference based solely on age. This makes no sense.
Demeaning Evil
SB 256 does allow life without parole for juveniles, but only if they are the principal offender in at least three murders–murdering two people isn’t severe enough to warrant life without parole. That is incredibly demeaning. What Dickens did–kidnapping, robbing, raping, terrorizing, and murdering two women–is serious enough to warrant life without parole or the equivalent. To say otherwise devalues Wendy and Dawn and minimizes the crimes committed against them.