Dickey v. State

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court
Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the
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official text of the opinion.




                                                   In the
                             Supreme Court of Georgia
                                             No. S26A0046
                                         Stephan Blake Dickey
                                                   v.
                                              The State

                          On Appeal from the Superior Court of Fannin County
                                            No. 2019-R-13

                                            Decided: May 5, 2026


                     ELLINGTON, Justice.
                  Stephan Blake Dickey appeals his convictions for malice
            murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of
            Justin McKinney and the non-fatal shooting of Anna Franklin. 1

                     1 The crimes occurred on December 4, 2018. On February 21, 2019, a
            Fannin County grand jury indicted Dickey, Hunter Nicholas Hill, Dalton Levi
            Manuel, Kevin Jack Chamaty, and Michael Chase Havard for malice murder,
            felony murder, criminal attempt to commit malice murder, criminal attempt
            to commit armed robbery, five counts of aggravated assault, one count of ag-
            gravated battery, two counts of home invasion in the first degree, and one count
            each of burglary in the first degree and violation of the Racketeer Influenced
            and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act, OCGA § 16-14-4 (c). Dickey, Hill, and
            Manuel were also charged with possession of a firearm during the commission
            of a felony, and Chamaty and Havard were charged with the offense of tam-
            pering with evidence. Hill was tried separately and was convicted of malice
            murder and other crimes, and we affirmed his convictions on appeal. See Hill
            v. State, 322 Ga. 700 (2025). Manuel, Chamaty, and Havard entered guilty
            pleas. Id. at 700 n.1.
                     After a jury trial that ended on May 5, 2022, Dickey was found guilty
            on all counts. On May 12, 2022, Dickey was sentenced to serve life in prison
Dickey contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion
to suppress his confession. For the reasons explained below, we
affirm.
        As summarized below, the evidence presented at trial
showed that Dickey joined co-indictee Hunter Nicholas Hill and
several other friends in planning to rob and murder both McKin-
ney and McKinney’s longtime girlfriend, Franklin, and that
Dickey went with the others to the victims’ house, where he shot
and killed McKinney, and co-indictee Dalton Levi Manuel shot
Franklin. Dickey later confessed to shooting McKinney. Hill and
Manuel did not testify at Dickey’s trial, but two co-indictees,
Kevin Jack Chamaty and Michael Chase Havard, and another
friend, Lakota Ricky Cloer, gave detailed testimony about the
plan and each person’s role in carrying out that plan. Franklin
testified that Dickey and Hill were present during the shooting.
        Before midnight on the evening of December 3, 2018, the
six friends discussed a plan to rob and kill McKinney and Frank-
lin, and four of them decided to carry out the plan. Chamaty and
Havard did not go to the victims’ house and went to a local
Walmart instead. Cloer drove Dickey, Hill, and Manuel—who
were 15 years old at the time—to the victims’ house. Cloer testi-



for malice murder, consecutive prison terms of 20 years for attempted murder
and five years for the firearms count, and concurrent prison terms of 30 years
for attempted armed robbery, 20 years for each home invasion count, and 20
years for the RICO count. The felony murder count was vacated by operation
of law, and the remaining counts were merged into the crimes for which Dickey
was sentenced. Dickey filed a timely motion for new trial, which he amended
on January 22, 2025. The trial court denied Dickey’s amended motion for new
trial on February 6, 2025. Dickey filed a timely notice of appeal, and the case
was docketed in this Court to the term beginning in December 2025 and sub-
mitted for a decision on the briefs.




                                      2
fied that, when he dropped his three passengers off near the vic-
tims’ house, they each carried a firearm. McKinney let them in-
side the house, and they joined the victims in the living room. As
McKinney bent over a woodstove, Dickey shot him in the back of
the head with a .410-caliber shotgun, causing McKinney’s death
almost instantly. Manuel shot Franklin in the face and arm with
a .25-caliber pistol—Manuel later admitted as much to investiga-
tors—and the three perpetrators fled.
       In the meantime, Cloer’s car ran out of gas. Cloer called
Chamaty and Havard to bring him some fuel, and the three of
them eventually picked up Hill, Dickey, and Manuel. Manuel told
Havard and Chamaty that Dickey had shot McKinney in the back
of the head with the shotgun and that Manuel had then shot
Franklin. Manuel hid the shotgun under his mattress, and Cloer,
Chamaty, and Havard threw the .25-caliber pistol into a nearby
lake. Investigators later recovered a .410-caliber shotgun from
under Manuel’s mattress and matched it to a shell casing recov-
ered from the victims’ house. And a .25-caliber pistol recovered
from the lake matched .25-caliber shell casings found at the crime
scene.
       Franklin survived the shooting, called 911 at 12:54 a.m.,
and reported, and later testified at trial, that Hill and Dickey—
both of whom she knew—were present at the shooting. Just be-
fore being airlifted to a hospital, Franklin again identified Dickey
and Hill as having been in her house at the time of the shooting.
Later that day, investigators went to Dickey and Hill’s high school
and transported them to the sheriff’s office. After being advised of
his Miranda rights, Dickey was questioned by GBI Special Agent
Jamie Abercrombie and ultimately admitted that he shot McKin-
ney with a .410-caliber shotgun. Testing of samples collected from




                                 3
Dickey’s hands and sweatshirt pursuant to a search warrant re-
vealed the presence of gunshot residue.
       Before trial, Dickey filed a motion to suppress his confes-
sion, and after a hearing, the trial court entered a written order
denying the motion. Dickey now contends that the trial court
failed to make findings sufficient to enable appellate review or,
alternatively, erred in concluding that he knowingly and volun-
tarily waived his rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US
436 (1966). As discussed in our recent opinion affirming Hill’s con-
victions on appeal, Hill v. State, 322 Ga. 700, 702–03 (2025), the
waiver inquiry has two distinct requirements: first, the “waiver
must be voluntary in the sense that it was the product of a free
and deliberate choice rather than intimidation, coercion, or decep-
tion,” and, second, it must be “made with a full awareness of both
the nature of the right being abandoned and the consequences of
the decision to abandon it.” Berghuis v. Thompkins, 560 US 370,
382–83 (2010) (quotation marks omitted). “[T]rial courts are to
use a totality-of-the-circumstances test to determine whether a
juvenile knowingly and voluntarily waived his constitutional
rights.” Clark v. State, 315 Ga. 423, 429 (2023). That “test re-
quires trial courts to consider all of the relevant circumstances
surrounding a juvenile’s interview with law enforcement officials
to determine whether the State has met its burden of showing”
that the juvenile knowingly and voluntarily waived his constitu-
tional rights. Id. at 437. See also id. at 429, 434–35 & n.16 (stating
that “any prescriptive or fixed list of factors by its very nature
risks undermining a totality-of-the-circumstances test” and dis-
approving any language in prior cases indicating that a specific
nine-factor framework to determine whether a juvenile know-
ingly and voluntarily waived his Miranda rights is required or
exclusive).




                                  4
        When reviewing whether a defendant knowingly and vol-
untarily waived his Miranda rights, we generally “review a trial
court’s factual findings and credibility determinations for clear
error and apply the law de novo.” Sinkfield v. State, 318 Ga. 531,
540 (2024). “We have previously explained that when reviewing a
trial court’s ruling on a suppression issue, an appellate court must
construe the evidentiary record in the light most favorable to the
factual findings and judgment of the trial court.” State v. Frank-
lin, 318 Ga. 39, 39 (2024) (quotation marks omitted). “In cases
where some or all of the material facts are undisputed, we
properly may take notice of the undisputed facts — even if the
trial court did not — without interfering with the prerogative of
the trial court to resolve disputes of material fact.” State v. Tripp,
320 Ga. 536, 547–48 (2024). “Such undisputed facts include,
among other things, those which definitively can be ascertained
exclusively by reference to evidence that is uncontradicted and
presents no questions of credibility. Audio or video evidence may
match that description.” Quintanar v. State, 322 Ga. 61, 65–66
(2025) (quotation marks omitted). “Finally, we review de novo the
application of the facts to the law — that is, the trial court’s ulti-
mate conclusion whether, under all the circumstances, the de-
fendant’s statement was voluntary.” Id. at 66 (quotation marks
omitted).
       1. Dickey first argues that the trial court failed to articu-
late any circumstances or make any findings of fact to support its
conclusion, making it impossible for this Court to conduct a de
novo review of the application of the law to the facts. Dickey there-
fore asks us to vacate the judgment and remand this case for
proper factual findings and further consideration of the motion to
suppress. The trial court entered an order denying Dickey’s mo-
tion to suppress “under the totality of the circumstances.” “After
considering all the arguments and evidence in its entirety,” the




                                  5
court stated that it was applying relevant factors set forth in case
law and found that “the interview of [Dickey] was freely and vol-
untarily given[.]” Although the court expressed some concern “as
to how this interview was conducted,” it acknowledged that “the
admissibility of statements by juveniles depends on whether, un-
der the totality of the circumstances, there was a knowing and
intelligent waiver of constitutional rights” and that “[t]he burden
is on the State to demonstrate that the juvenile understood and
waived those rights.” At trial, before opening statements, Dickey
asked the trial court to reconsider its ruling, but the court reaf-
firmed its prior ruling denying the motion to suppress and “per-
fect[ed] the record” by specifically finding “from a preponderance
of the evidence the defendant was advised of each of his Miranda
rights, that he understood them, that he voluntarily waived them,
and that he thereafter gave his statement freely and voluntarily.”
        Dickey provides no authority for his request to remand this
case and bases it solely on the trial court’s lack of specific factual
findings. Although the trial court mentioned case law setting
forth some relevant factors and did not list those factors or ex-
pressly acknowledge other factors that may have been pertinent
to its analysis of the totality of the circumstances, “we generally
do not require trial courts to make specific, on-the-record findings
about each aspect of the totality of the circumstances they evalu-
ate or to make explicit factual findings or credibility determina-
tions on the record.” Clark, 315 Ga. at 439–40. Here, the trial
court did not indicate that any factors were required or exclusive.
The trial court’s order shows its consideration of the totality of the
circumstances and is not lacking simply because it did not also
expound upon the factors relevant to that consideration. See id.
at 440 (“In sum, we see no indication that the trial court failed to
apply a totality-of-the-circumstances test in determining whether




                                  6
Clark knowingly and voluntarily waived his rights under Mi-
randa. Clark’s claim therefore fails.”). Accordingly, we reject
Dickey’s request to remand this case.
       2. Dickey alternatively argues that the circumstances
shown by the evidence at the hearing on his motion to suppress
do not support the conclusion that he voluntarily waived his Mi-
randa rights. In his initial appellate brief, Dickey relies on sev-
eral circumstances that were substantially identical to the cir-
cumstances surrounding Hill’s waiver of his Miranda rights,
which we subsequently set forth in our decision affirming Hill’s
convictions. In his appellate reply brief, Dickey acknowledges our
intervening decision in Hill’s case, which rejected Hill’s conten-
tion that he did not knowingly and voluntarily waive his Miranda
rights. Dickey distinguishes that decision solely on the basis that
Hill, unlike Dickey, “never asked to speak with an attorney or a
parent at any point” and “was not denied ... bathroom access.”
Hill, 322 Ga. at 705. The parties have not raised any dispute
about the words or the conduct occurring in the recorded inter-
view of Dickey or about any other evidence related to the inter-
view.
       Agent Abercrombie’s testimony at the hearing on the mo-
tion to suppress, together with a video recording of Dickey’s cus-
todial interview, shows the following. 2 On the day of the shooting,
after obtaining arrest warrants for Dickey and Hill, Agent Aber-
crombie and another GBI Special Agent went to the high school.


        2 We have also reviewed Agent Abercrombie’s testimony at trial for the
light it sheds on the evidence related to Dickey’s interview because, in deter-
mining the admissibility of a defendant’s statement, the appellate court may
consider all of the evidence, whether adduced at the pre-trial hearing or at
trial. See Boles v. State, 316 Ga. 209, 220 (2023); Francis v. State, 296 Ga. 190,
194–95 (2014).




                                        7
Agent Abercrombie told Dickey that she wanted to talk with him
about McKinney, and Dickey agreed to go with her to the sheriff’s
office. Dickey rode to the sheriff’s office in the front seat of a dif-
ferent vehicle from Hill, was handcuffed during the drive for se-
curity reasons, and was not informed of his arrest warrant or that
he was under arrest. Agent Abercrombie refrained from telling
Dickey he was under arrest because she wanted him to feel com-
fortable talking with her at that early stage of the investigation.
       At the sheriff’s office, Dickey was placed in a room separate
from Hill, and Dickey’s handcuffs were removed. The door to the
interview room remained unlocked. Dickey was placed in the in-
terview room at approximately 12:34 p.m., and the interview be-
gan around 12:37 p.m. Agent Abercrombie first read Dickey his
Miranda rights verbatim from a GBI card, asking Dickey whether
he understood each right. Dickey affirmed that he understood
each right as it was read to him. The GBI did not have a separate
Miranda warning for juveniles at that time. Agent Abercrombie
then asked Dickey if he was “okay with sitting down and talking
with [her] for a little bit today.” Dickey then agreed to speak with
Agent Abercrombie.
       Dickey was 13 days shy of his 16th birthday and in tenth
grade when he was interviewed. Dickey did not appear to be un-
der the influence of any drugs or alcohol, or suffering from any
mental disability or mental illness at the time of the interview.
Dickey appeared to understand what Agent Abercrombie was say-
ing and the questions she was asking, and he answered the ques-
tions appropriately. Although Agent Abercrombie was not aware
at the time that Dickey had ADHD or was on a corresponding in-
dividualized education plan, she testified that he clearly under-
stood the information she was conveying, that he was responding




                                  8
appropriately, and that there was no indication that a mental dis-
ability was impacting his comprehension. Dickey never asked to
stop the interview or speak with an attorney. Dickey was not
threatened, physically harmed, coerced, or promised anything in
exchange for his statements.
       Agent Abercrombie explained that she employed the GBI-
recommended “Reid technique.” Agent Abercrombie initially
asked Dickey open-ended, nonconfrontational questions and later
interrogated him with accusatory and confrontational questions.
About 45 minutes into the initial portion of the interview, and
about ten minutes before that portion ended, Agent Abercrombie
asked Dickey if there was any reason his fingerprints or DNA
would be at the crime scene, and he gave a negative answer. After
concluding the initial portion of the interview, Agent Abercrombie
took a ten-minute break, leaving Dickey alone in the interview
room. During that break, Dickey stuck his fingers in his mouth,
spit on some toilet paper that was in the interview room, wiped
off his hands with it, attempted to clean under his fingernails,
and rubbed his shoes together.
       After observing this behavior, Agent Abercrombie received
help from another officer to apply for a search warrant and re-
turned to the interview room to begin the confrontational portion
of her questioning. About six minutes into that part of the inter-
view, Dickey asked to go to the restroom, which Agent Abercrom-
bie testified that she did not allow at that time because she was
trying to preserve the evidence that might be on Dickey’s person
and could be washed away if he went to the restroom. About 13
minutes later, soon after Dickey confessed to shooting McKinney
and as the second portion of the interview was ending, Dickey
asked a second time to use the restroom. Agent Abercrombie said
she would get someone to walk there with him in a minute and,




                                9
less than a minute later, Dickey was escorted from the interview
room to the restroom. Although Agent Abercrombie was unsure if
Dickey truly needed to relieve himself and the search warrant
had not yet been obtained, she allowed him to go to the restroom
with a male investigator who was instructed not to let Dickey
wash his hands. Agent Abercrombie admitted that she could have
done that at any time, but she testified that the reason she had
not allowed Dickey to go to the restroom with an investigator after
Dickey’s first request was that she hoped to obtain the search
warrant quickly and having him wait for a short time was not
detrimental to his wellbeing.
       After returning to the interview room, Dickey fell asleep,
and Agent Abercrombie returned about 25 minutes later and
asked more questions for about five minutes. Dickey was then left
alone in the interview room and was handcuffed about 50 minutes
later. After nearly another hour, during which time the search
warrant was issued, Agent Abercrombie brought Dickey’s mother
into the interview room for a few minutes. After another ten
minutes, Agent Abercrombie and other officers swabbed Dickey’s
hands, collected his shoes and sweatshirt, and answered ques-
tions from Dickey. After Agent Abercrombie subsequently re-
turned and took DNA swabs, Dickey asked to use the restroom
again. After using the restroom again, he left the interview room
four and a half hours after the interview had begun.
       Prior to the interview, law enforcement had tried unsuc-
cessfully to contact Dickey’s father – who was a convicted felon on
probation – and did not know the identity of Dickey’s mother at
that time. During the interview, Agent Abercrombie learned that
Dickey was living with Hill’s father, but law enforcement was un-
able to contact him. Although Dickey asked just before the first




                                10
break if his mother had been contacted, Agent Abercrombie tes-
tified that she did not stop the interview and try to contact
Dickey’s mother because Dickey’s mother did not have to be pre-
sent and Dickey was not living with her. At some point, however,
Dickey’s mother was contacted, came to the sheriff’s office, and
was permitted to speak with her son in the interview room.
Dickey then asked what was going to happen, and his mother said
something about him going to “YDC.” Agent Abercrombie told
Dickey, “You’re being arrested.” Dickey responded, “Well, dur.”
       The trial court did not err by determining that Dickey vol-
untarily and knowingly waived his Miranda rights. See Hill, 322
Ga. at 703–07. The two distinctions that Dickey draws between
his and Hill’s circumstances are, upon close examination, distinc-
tions without a difference. First, although Dickey argues that he
asked for his mother, there is no evidence that he asked to speak
with his mother. Dickey asked only if his mother had been con-
tacted, and he did not request that she be present during the in-
terview. See Hill, 322 Ga. at 705 (holding that the trial court did
not err in determining that Hill knowingly and voluntarily
waived his Miranda rights under very similar circumstances, in-
cluding the fact that Hill never asked to speak with a parent). The
absence of Dickey’s mother was relevant to the trial court’s con-
sideration of the totality of the circumstances, but was not deter-
minative of the voluntariness of his Miranda waiver. See Love v.
State, 309 Ga. 833, 838 (2020) (holding that the absence of the
appellant’s mother was “not determinative on the issue of volun-
tariness” of his Miranda waiver); Heard v. State, 287 Ga. 554, 557
(2010) (holding that the absence of the appellant’s mother “was a
factor for the trial court to consider, but it was not determinative
on the issue of voluntariness” of his Miranda waiver). Second, the
recording of Dickey’s interview shows that his bathroom break




                                11
was only postponed for less than 15 minutes after his initial re-
quest, and Agent Abercrombie had a sound reason for not imme-
diately granting that initial request. Such a short, reasonable
postponement of the restroom break that Dickey requested, with-
out any indication of resulting distress or discomfort, does not
amount to evidence that his Miranda waiver was the product of
“intimidation, coercion, or deception” rather than “a free and de-
liberate choice.” See Berghuis, 560 US at 382–83. Considering all
the circumstances here, including Agent Abercrombie’s testimony
and the video recording, we conclude that the trial court did not
err in denying Dickey’s motion to suppress.
        Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur, except Warren,
P. J., not participating.




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