CA- Trial begins for second defendant in Palermo slaying

Please note: These are copies of news articles, not opinions of this website. This news article reports, exactly what the police reported when the incident took place. The police reported "Dixon mistakenly thought Dills was a child molester." That is why we have this story tagged "Mistaken ID" which means the deceased IS NOT a child molester!

8-8-2008 California:

OROVILLE — Jurors Thursday began hearing evidence against a second man accused in a fatal shooting nearly two years ago of an Oroville teenager inside a moving car.

In opening statements, the prosecutor asked the seven-woman, five-man Butte County Superior Court jury to find Anthony Dean Dixon III, 23, guilty of the "senseless" and premeditated murder of Marlin John Dills, 18.

Dixon was quoted as admitting to sheriff's detectives that he suspected the teen of being a thief and a child molester and shot him several times as he lay asleep in the back seat of a car being driven by Freeman Kellison, 21, also of Oroville.

The teenager was shot eight times in the head, chest and one hand on Sept. 5, 2006, and his body was dumped along the side of a dirt road south of Palermo, where it was discovered the next morning by children on their way to school.

The defense contends it was Kellison who committed the murder and convinced Dixon, who he considered "a simpleton and a dummy," to take responsibility for the crime.

Dixon's lawyer, Jesus Rodriguez, pointed out to the jury it was Kellison who borrowed his grandmother's pistol the night of the fatal shooting, and tried to cover up the blood stains from the back seat of his vehicle and hide other evidence on her property the next day.

"Mr. Kellison had the motive, means and opportunity to kill John Dills," Dixon's attorney told the jury Thursday.

Last year, a separate Butte County jury hearing an identical first-degree murder charge against Kellison, hung 11-1 for acquittal.

Facing an unknown retrial, Kellison elected to plead no contest to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, for which he is now serving a three-year prison term.

Deputy district attorney Corie Caraway said she intends to call Kellison to testify against his co-defendant when Dixon's trial resumes today.

On the witness stand Thursday, sheriff's detective Daniel Angel said when questioned, Kellison admitted having discussed shooting Dills with Dixon the night of the killing.

Kellison claimed he asked his grandmother for her .22-caliber handgun for protection, after seeing several men clad in black garb pointing "laser weapons" at them earlier on her property, said the detective.

Kellison claimed Dixon, who he'd known since grade school, told him he was worried that if "something wasn't done" about the Oroville teen, those who were after him might hurt them or members of their family.

In her opening remarks to the jury, the prosecutor noted that when questioned about the killing, Dixon confessed to shooting the victim inside the moving vehicle and continued to fire several more times "to put him out of his misery like you would an animal."

But Dixon's attorney asserted Kellison took advantage of his client's lesser intelligence and drugged condition to "weave" that story for the authorities.

During his opening remarks to the jury Thursday, the defense attorney replayed a segment of Kellison's videotaped police interrogation.

After the subject of gunshot residue came up, the detective left the room for several minutes, Rodriguez said.

Dixon's lawyer contends Kellison could clearly be seen staring at his right hand and using his left to "wipe it off."

Saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words," Dixon's attorney assured the jury that before the trial ends, "you'll know who the real killer is." ..News Source.. by TERRY VAU DELL-Staff Writer

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Gunman convicted of first-degree murder

8-13-2008 California:

OROVILLE -- It took a little over four hours Wednesday for a Butte County jury to convict a Palermo man of the premeditated, first-degree murder of a teenager in 2006.

Anthony Dean Dixon III, 23, could face two separate 25-to-life life terms when he is sentenced next month for shooting Marlin John Dills, 18, of Oroville, eight times while the victim was riding in the back seat of a moving car.

Although a juror said they rejected defense arguments the driver, Freeman Kellison, 21, committed the murder, they believed he was equally involved with Dixon in planning and carrying out the Sept. 5, 2006, execution-style slaying.

Kellison is currently serving a three-year prison term as part of plea bargain to voluntary manslaughter, after a separate jury last year hung 11-1 for acquittal on an identical first-degree murder charge.

Following Dixon's murder conviction Wednesday, deputy district attorney Corie Caraway, who prosecuted the case, said she was pleased for the victim's family, who she noted, had to endure two separate jury trials.

"I think it was the right verdict and I hope this offers some sort of resolution for the family," said the prosecutor.

Dixon's attorney, Jesus Rodriguez, said he was disappointed with how quickly the verdict was reached.

"I believe that Freeman Kellison committed this killing," the defense attorney said.

Following the verdict, the jury foreman told a reporter outside of court the defendant's videotaped confession to sheriff's detectives the day after the murder was pivotal.

"The fact also that he did not take the stand and say anything differently from his confession was also very important," the jury foreman added.

The jury foreman said his fellow jurors believed that although Dixon alone shot the victim, both he and Kellison were equally involved in planning and carrying out the teen's murder.

"It was a mutual thing; personally I believe he (Kellison) was as guilty of pulling the trigger as Mr. Dixon," the Paradise juror said.

Called as a prosecution witness at Dixon's trial, Kellison admitted borrowing his grandmother's .22-caliber pistol for protection against some prowlers that night and giving it to Dixon because he was more familiar with firearms.

He testified he never thought his friend would use it to kill the Oroville teenager.

In his videotaped confession, Dixon told sheriff's detectives he was in the right front passenger seat "playing around" and pointing the gun at the back-seat passenger, when the car hit a bump in the road and it discharged accidentally.

He said he then fired several more times to put the teen "out of his misery ... like you would an animal."

An autopsy showed the victim was shot four times in the head, three times in the chest and once in the hand. His body was dumped along a dirt road south of Palermo, where it was found by children on their way to school the next morning.

In her closing summation to the jury on Monday, the prosecutor said Dixon fatally shot the teenager after "jumping to a conclusion" that had no basis in fact.

"John Dills never saw his 19th birthday; he now exists only in the memory of his family," the prosecutor said.

Jurors also upheld a special allegation that Dixon discharged a firearm causing death, which carries a second 25-to-life term.

Butte County Superior Court Judge Gerald Hermansen ordered Dixon held without bail pending sentencing on Sept. 9. ..News Source.. by TERRY VAU DELL - Staff Writer