LONGVIEW, Texas — A Louisiana man was sentenced to death for murdering an East Texas deputy in December 2019 following a jury’s verdict Wednesday afternoon.
Gregory Newson, of Shreveport, Louisiana, was found guilty of capital murder on Oct. 28 for fatally shooting Panola County Deputy Chris Dickerson when he made a routine traffic stop in Gary around 2 a.m. on Dec. 31, 2019 on the vehicle Newson was driving.
After several hours of deliberations Wednesday, a group of 12 Gregg County jurors found there is a danger that Newson would commit violent criminal acts in the future and there are no factors stopping him from receiving a death sentence. They also found that he does not have an intellectual disability.
Presiding Judge Christi Kennedy formally pronounced the death sentence after she dismissed the jury from their service.
The state sought the death penalty, while the defense wanted a life without parole sentence. The defense sought to prove that Newson has an intellectual disability due to a Supreme Court ruling saying if a person has an intellectual disability they cannot be executed.
Deliberations were interrupted briefly after printed-out notes and two electronic devices were found in the jury room.
After talking to each juror individually, lawyers and the judge learned that no external information was accessed through the laptop or watch.
The printed-out notes found in the jury room were from a juror who typed out questions on his home computer that he thought they might have and printed them at home. Deliberations then continued.
CLOSING ARGUMENTS
During closing arguments, prosecutor Natalie Tise urged jurors to remember Dickerson's widow Krista and their two young daughters who lost a father as well as Dickerson's mother and his sisters.
"There's two options, and we're giving you the worst one because this (what Newson did) is unacceptable," Tise said of the death penalty.
Dickerson was a hard working man who was committed to serving his family and community, from working multiple jobs, serving in the military to becoming a law enforcement officer and saving a woman and her dog from a burning house, Tise said.
Tise called Newson manipulative for making false claims to his girlfriend and others about the deadly shooting while making calls from the jail. The state said several phone calls showed Newson showed no remorse for killing Dickerson and even said he would shoot him again.
In addition to Newson murdering Dickerson, the state reminded the jury that Newson shot an off-duty officer, who got out of bed to follow Newson's vehicle after hearing that a deputy was shot, Tise said.
"Gregory Newson is an equal opportunity cop murderer," Tise said.
Tise, quoting the words of Maya Angelou, said, "when someone shows you who they are, believe them" regarding Newson's actions that the state said shows he remains a danger.
Regarding intellectual disability, prosecutor Wes Mau told jurors the defense's expert calculation found that Newson is above the mark of what makes a person intellectually disabled, adding there was no diagnosis made in his childhood. Testing was only done when he was up for the death penalty.
The state pointed out how one of their experts said Newson has an antisocial personality disorder, not an intellectual disability.
The prosecution said based on that diagnosis and Newson's past behavior, Newson is a continuing danger to society, citing his multiple convictions, him killing Dickerson and jail phone calls in which he showed no remorse.
The prosecution argued that Newson's adaptive functioning is fine, pointing out how he read multiple books while in jail since his 2019 arrest.
The defense said their expert found in her evaluation that Newson meets all the criteria for having an intellectual disability. Newson has adaptive deficits that have been present since he was a child, showing he has had an intellectual disability since childhood.
Another defense expert found Newson would not present any danger to society in her assessment of Newson, noting he followed the rules of the Gregg County Jail, where he has been housed for nearly five years.
Defense attorney Natalie Anderson emphasized that she cannot justify Newson killing Dickerson in the early morning hours of Dec. 31, 2019. She said that any attempt to summarize the pain that Dickerson's family has endured would be "pathetic."
"Gregory Newson will always be the man who killed Deputy Chris Dickerson. And nothing can be done to bring Deputy Dickerson back," Anderson said.
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