DICKSON, Ryan Heath

Ryan Heath Dickson

• 1994-11-27
• 1997-12-12
• 2002-10-05
• 2004 Dickson
• 2006 Dickson
• 2007-04-27

Executed April 26, 2007 06:17 p.m. CST by Lethal Injection in Texas

• 15th murderer executed in U.S. in 2007
• 1072nd murderer executed in U.S. since 1976
• 13th murderer executed in Texas in 2007
• 392nd murderer executed in Texas since 1976

Summary:
Dickson, then 18, and his juvenile half-brother Dane Dickson, entered a small grocery store and were attempting to steal beer when they were confronted by 61 year old Carmelo Surace, the store owner. Dickson produced a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle from underneath his coat and shot the storeowner once in the chest. His wife, Marie Surace, was then shot in the face even though she had placed all the money from the store register on the counter and was on her knees. The robbery netted $52 in cash and an undetermined amount of beer. Dickson later admitted to police he was responsible for the shooting deaths of both Carmelo and Marie Surace. Dickson’s confession was corroborated by both physical evidence and by the statements at trial of Dane Dickson, who received a 15 year sentence for the robbery.

Citations:
Dickson v. Quarterman, 462 F.3d 470 (5th Cir. 2006) (Federal Habeas).
Dickson v. State, Not Reported in S.W.3d, 2001 WL 34736485 (Tex.Cr.App. 2004) (Direct Appeal).

Final/Special Meal:
Fried chicken, fried eggs, french fries with white gravy, apple pie and ice cream, five biscuits, chili with jalapeno peppers and cheese, lemonade and five containers of milk.

Final Words:
“I’d like to say I love my mother, brother, sister, grandmother, cousins and nieces and my brothers and sisters I have never met. I do apologize to the Surace family. I am responsible for them losing their mother, their father and their grandmother. I never meant for them to be taken. I am sorry for what I did and take responsibility for what I did.”

Internet Sources:

Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Executed Offenders (Ryan Dickson)

Inmate: Dickson, Ryan Heath
Date of Birth: 11/11/76
TDCJ#: 999250
Date Received: 12/31/97
Education: 7 years
Occupation: Cook
Date of Offense: 11/27/94
County of Offense: Potter
Native County: Little Rock Arkansas
Race: White
Gender: Male
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 05' 03"
Weight: 171 lb
Prior Prison Record: None

Texas Attorney General

Thursday, April 19, 2007 - Media Advisory: Ryan Dickson Scheduled For Execution

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about Ryan Heath Dickson, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. Thursday, April 26, 2007. In December 1997, Dickson was sentenced to death for the capital murder of Carmelo Surace during a robbery at an Amarillo convenience store. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

Shortly before 6 p.m. on November 27, 1994, a customer walked into a small grocery store/bicycle repair shop in the San Jacinto area of Amarillo and found the bodies of the store’s owners, Carmelo and Marie Surace. Both had been fatally shot.

Shortly after arriving at the crime scene, police officers were approached by a resident of the neighborhood who told officers she had seen four boys walking in the general direction of the grocery store and that she recognized one of the boys as someone she knew from the neighborhood. Officers were quickly able to narrow the focus to a group of young people, who were all taken in for questioning. After being given a Miranda warning, Ryan Dickson provided police with both a tape recorded statement and a written statement recounting the events that led up to the murders. In the interview, Dickson admitted he was responsible for the shooting deaths of both Carmelo and Marie Surace. Dickson’s confession was corroborated by both physical evidence and the statements of others.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Aug. 13, 1997 — A Potter County grand jury indicted Dickson for capital murder in the death of Carmelo Surace.
Dec. 16, 1997 — A jury found Dickson guilty of capital murder and the court assessed a sentence of death.
Oct. 22, 1999 – Dickson filed a state writ application in the trial court
Apr. 26, 2000 — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Dickson’s conviction and sentence.
June 28, 2000 — The Court of Criminal Appeals denied Dickson’s motion for rehearing.
Feb. 21, 2001 — The Court of Criminal Appeals denied Dickson’s application for state habeas relief.
Nov. 6, 2001 — Dickson filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the federal district court.
Mar. 23, 2005 — The federal district court denied Dickson’s habeas petition.
Jun. 22, 2006 — The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Dickson’s request for a certificate of appealability.
Aug. 24, 2006 — The Fifth Circuit Court denied Dickson’s appeal.
Sep. 22, 2006 — The Fifth Circuit Court denied Dickson’s motion for rehearing.
Dec. 22, 2006 — Dickson petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari review. His petition was rejected.

PRIOR CRIMINAL HISTORY

Dickson has an extensive juvenile record, including burglary and an aggravated assault when he attacked one of his caretakers with a knife.

On November 27, 1994, police in Amarillo, Texas, were called to the Surace Grocery, a small grocery store run by Carmelo Surace and his wife, Marie. When they arrived, the officers found Marie dead and Carmelo critically injured.

The police learned that four young males—Ryan Heath Dickson, his younger brother Dane Dickson, Freddie Medina, and Jeremy Brown—had attempted to steal beer from the store. After first gathering outside the store, the two brothers entered while Medina and Brown waited outside. The Dickson brothers entered the nearby Surace Grocery, which had no customers then. Ryan Dickson headed toward the beer while his younger brother stood between the doorway and the counter. Carmelo Surace said he wouldn't sell beer to Dickson because of his age. Moments later, Dickson fired a shot, and Mr. Surace fell to the floor. Carmelo later died from his injuries.

Dane Dickson said he had not seen the weapon earlier that day but added that he was not surprised that the defendant was armed because he was in the "habit" of carrying the weapon. Dickson then walked up to the counter, behind which Marie Surace stood. She told Dickson to take the money she had removed from the cash register and leave. Dickson wanted Mrs. Surace to come out from behind the counter. Dane Dickson grabbed the money, $52, and took off. Mrs. Surace was scooting back and squatting down when he left. When he was two or three steps outside the store, he heard a gunshot. "I kept running. I was running hard. Ryan caught up with me, and we were running side by side (toward their house)," Dane Dickson said. Dickson got the money, then hid his gun under a mattress in the backyard and told other youths what had happened. Dane Dickson later hid the rifle in a garage near an abandoned structure. He subsequently told police about it. Ryan Dickson went for food and socialized hours after the shooting. Police apprehended Dickson late that night after talking to witnesses, and Dane Dickson was picked up early the next morning. Ryan Dickson was 18 at the time of the crimes. Dickson had prior juvenile arrests for burglarizing churches and being a runaway. While living at a residential facility for youth, Dickson punched a female staffer in the face when she confronted him about peeking into a girl's room. Charges were filed against Dickson for the assault, but he was allowed to return to the facility. A short time later, another incident occurred when Dickson was confronted by another staffer about a prank. Dickson stabbed the staffer in the chest. Prosecutors outlined Dickson's violent history of two capital murders and approximately 100 criminal offenses.

While awaiting trial for the Surace murders, Dickson sent letters to a young female friend claiming he had killed a black person in San Antonio and a pawn shop clerk in Fort Worth. In the letter he said, "I've done all the killing I need to. I've earned my stripes." One witness testified that, before the robbery, Dickson said he was "going to shoot the two old people in the store."

After Dickson was sentenced to death, Surace family members were relieved. The trial lasted more than 12 weeks. "Well, we're all tired, and we're glad that this is finally over," said Rose Surace, her eyes still brimming with grief. "As far as the verdict went today, I speak for my family. I believe that the death penalty and the verdict - however it was done - as victims here that this is our voice going out through the law." She said the family probably could have dealt with the trauma if jurors meted out a life sentence, but the family's loss is a hard one to bear. "Either way, it doesn't bring our parents back," said her sister, Anita Surace.

In 2002, Dickson was tried for the murder of Marie Surace and again sentenced to death. Dane Dickson pled guilty to two charges of murder and was sentenced to 15 years. Part of the sentence was served in a juvenile facility and then he was transferred to the state prison system. Ryan Dickson has proven that his jury was correct in finding that he would be a future danger to society. Prison records show that in December of 2006, Dickson stabbed a corrections officer in the eye. "I'm a fighter," he said. "It's pretty much a given that I can't beat the system, but I can create some difficulties for them after the fact. If they go ahead and kill me, that's fine."

Incredibly, Dickson blamed Carmelo Surace for confronting him, and said the store owner must have spotted the weapon hidden in his jacket, tried to wrest it away from him and was shot in the tussle. "I had a gun inside my jacket. The man came out from behind the counter. He walked in the aisle with me. He grabbed my gun, tipped the gun. ... When I jerked it back, I pulled the trigger. And that's how he was shot. I didn't go in there and pull a gun and start shooting people," Dickson said. He also insisted Marie Surace was shot by accident as she reached under a counter for a gun.

Former Potter County District Attorney Rebecca King, who prosecuted the two capital murder cases against Dickson, disputed his story of the shootings, especially Marie Surace's death. The woman was trying to make a phone call on an old-style rotary phone when she was shot, she said. "When the shooting started, I wasn't thinking about beer no more," said Dickson, who fled the store empty-handed. "I attempted to shoot over her head and we ran out. I didn't even know I shot her until later that night when they told me." King, however, said ballistics evidence disputed Dickson's account. "She was on her knees," King said. "She had the phone in her hand. He bent down. She was looking up at him. Ballistics showed it was execution-style. He shot her. Totally cold." King's co-prosecutor said about the sawed-off shotgun, "What do you think he took it down there for?'' Murphy asked. "... It was fully loaded and one in the chamber, cocked and ready to go."

UPDATE: Twelve years after murdering an Amarillo couple during an armed robbery at their grocery store, Ryan Dickson was executed Thursday evening. No witnesses from his family or the victims' family attended the execution. Dickson, 30, spoke rapidly when asked if he had anything to say, expressing love to his family and apologizing to the relatives of his victims. Dickson said, "I am sorry for what I did, and I take responsibility for what I did." Dickson was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m., eight minutes after the lethal drugs began running through his veins