STALLARD FIRST IN STATE FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER THROUGH OXYCODONE OVERDOSE

TAZEWELL - Forty milligrams of oxycodone brings $40 on the street.

Last September, it brought an end to Nick Dickerson's life and forever
changed Robert Stallard's. Stallard, who entered guilty pleas to felony
homocide, distribution of schedule II narcotics and disposing of
Dickerson's dead body, learned his fate for those crimes Aug. 28. Stallard,
who had only a drunk in public conviction in his 40 years of life prior to
the charges, will serve 13 years, six months for crimes he claims he did
not commit. Stallard's July 23 guilty plea allowed Judge Donald Mullins to
decide his degree of guilt and range of punishment after hearing evidence
at sentencing. In a first for the Commonwealth, Mullins found Stallard
guilty of murder.

After a two-hour delay while a witness was brought from Russell County, the
hearing did not conclude until 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. That hearing more closely
resembled a trial as Commonwealth's Attorney Dennis Lee and defense counsel
Penny Nimmo each called several witnesses including pathologists who
testified to the cause of Nick Dickerson's death. Medical examiner William
Massello and Dr. Joseph Ballo, who testified for the defense, both said the
40 milligrams of oxycodone combined with the six or seven beers Dickerson
had consumed was lethal. "Oxycodone is an opiate.

It represses respiration. Alcohol has the same effect on the body," Ballo
said. Massello, who performed the autopsy, said Dickerson's death was
caused by the combination of oxycodone and alcohol.

He said Dickerson had trace amounts of other narcotics, but they were not a
factor in his death. Dickerson had fresh needle marks on his arm, and Ballo
contended the deceased could have taken more than 40 milligrams of
oxycodone since only his blood was tested. "He could have ingested or
inhaled more of the drug. The contents of the stomach w eren't analyzed and
the nasal passages were not swabbed," Ballo said. Harry Harrison, Jr., who
lived above the defendant in the apartment complex, testified he witnessed
Stallard both sell and administer the drug to Dickerson. Harrison,
currently a resident of the county jail with more than 60 years of prison
hanging over his head, said he went to Stallard's house to "borrow some
cigarettes'' around 6 p.m. on the evening of Sept. 3. He told the court
Dickerson was there and he witnessed him give Stallard $30 or $35 and
Stallard went to the bedroom and got the pill and brought it to Dickerson.
"He licked the coating off it, crushed it between two spoons, heated it up,
mixed it with water and put it in a syringe," Harrison said. He told the
court Dickerson had a bad arm and could not inject himself, so Stallard put
the needle into his arm. "He used a big needle and he had to try more than
once to find a vein," Harrison said. He said Dickerson asked "When is this
going to hit me?'' before he slumped over at Stallard's kitchen table.
Harrison became an even larger figure in the case as Nimmo sought to prove
it was him who sold drugs to Dickerson. Defense witnesses Sonja Mabe,
Martha Moore and James Moore joined Stallard in telling the court Harrison
had a drug problem and was a drug dealer who often sold drugs to Nick
Dickerson. Dave Burnette, Harrison's probation officer, told the court he
had never seen any needle marks on Harrison (who is jailed on grand
larceny) and Harrison had passed numerous drug screenings. "He was given
seven random drug screenings in three years and only tested positive once.
That was for Zanex and he had a valid prescription for it," Burnette said.
Burnette said Harrison was given at least one hair test that detects drug
usage as far back as 90 days. Stallard admitted a long history of drug and
alcohol abuse and said he did not remember much of what happened the night
Dickerson died. He claimed binge drinking and drug abuse was the cause of
memory loss and his giving several different statements about the case. Lee
portrayed Stallard as a chronic liar who told people he was a Vietnam
veteran when in fact he had never been in the military. Lee played a tape
of the 911 call Stallard made on the night of Dickerson's death.

Stallard told the operator "Nick something or other'' was lying outside on
the ground and he thought he was dead. Stallard's many and varied stories
contributed to his conviction on the murder charge, according to the judge.
"If you had come in here and shown remorse and been willing to take your
medicine, I might have given you a lesser sentence," Mullins said. Mullins
sentenced Stallard to 15 years for the murder with five of those suspended.

He suspended two of the five years he gave Stallard on the distribution
conviction. Stallard drew six months on the misdemeanor charge of disposing
of a dead body. Mullins told Nimmo that he would have Stallard evaluated
for the therapeutic drug program within the Department of Corrections. The
sentence brought an end to a case that had drawn the attention of Home Box
Office and People Magazine. Members of the victim's family were happy
Stallard was convicted of murder, but expressed disappointment with the
sentence. "Robert's family can visit him and talk to him but I will never
see my brother again,'' Larry Dickerson said. Larry Dickerson said he was
outraged by defense statements that Stallard knew Nick better than members
of his family.

He said the family is planning a civil suit for wrongful death in the case.