Judge John Ramsey Johnson sentenced Ariston Jamal Dickson Friday to eight years in prison in connection with the shooting death of 23-year-old Robert Maurice Lesueur.
Dickson, 21, was arrested in connection with Lesueur’s death on October 23, 2012, just one day after police found Lesueur in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest and face. Lesueur later died at the hospital.
At sentencing Friday, Dickson appeared speechless and was unwilling to read a letter he wrote to Lesueur’s family, but Judge Johnson encouraged him to address the court.
“I wish that it never happened,” Dickson said.
Originally charged with second-degree murder, Dickson pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in January. Court documents say the night he was killed, Lesueur forced his way into his ex-girlfriends house, pushed her on the couch, and headed toward the master bedroom where Dickson was waiting.
When Lesueur entered the bedroom, Dickson fired three shots hitting him in the chest and face; Lesueur was unarmed.
Lesueur’s brother Reginald called the eight-year sentence “not fair.”
“Anytime you take somebody’s life, eight years can never be enough,” Reginald Lesueur said. “You get a guy caught with cocaine, he’s going to get at least 10 years or something like that. But eight years for a murder? It makes no sense.”
Lesueur’s mother, Althea Lesueur, said the death of her son was “devastating.”
“I hope [Dickson] takes the opportunity in prison to better himself, because I don’t have a son who can learn from this situation and better himself, anymore,” Althea Lesueur said.
Sentencing documents have been added to this post.
