In a ruling handed down on Wednesday, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld a 2016 Emanuel County murder conviction.
It stems from the conviction of John Lorenzo Dickerson who was convicted of Felony Murder and a number of other offenses.
Case Background
According to the facts of the case, 40-year-old Bernie Givens was shot outside his home on October 1, 2016.
At 3:09 a.m., Givens’s girlfriend called 911 and reported that Givens had been shot in their front yard. Givens’s girlfriend testified that she was awakened when she “heard the gunshot,” and ran outside because Givens called out for help. She pulled Givens – who was still alive and able to assist – towards the house to “get him to safety.” Because her cell phone had no signal, she ran down the street to her neighbor’s house to call 911.When Givens’s girlfriend returned, she emptied Givens’s pockets – which included money, marijuana, a cell phone, and cigarettes – at another neighbor’s suggestion and placed the items in a drawer of their bedroom dresser.
Officers responded at 3:14 a.m. They saw a “blood trail from the carport leading up into the side entrance of the house” and found Givens “lifeless” in the kitchen area with one foot “hanging out the door.” Givens’s girlfriend was attempting to move one of the vehicles in the driveway to make room “for the ambulance to come in,” but the officers stopped her when they noticed a “black … .380” Smith & Wesson pistol lying “[i]n front of the SUV on the grass area.” The pistol’s magazine was filled, and it did not appear to have been recently fired. Officers also noted that, “just behind the trash can in the sandy area it looked … like a scuffle had taken place” based on the different “shoe impressions” in the sand.
They collected additional evidence consisting of a 9mm shell casing behind the trash can; a $50 bill, a small plastic bag of cocaine, and a .380-caliber shell casing that did not appear to have been recently fired in the front yard; several cell phones and other narcotics in Givens’s truck; and a pink firearm, a bag of marijuana, another cell phone, $1,361 in cash, and cigarettes in the master bedroom.
Earlier that night, a large group of people, including Givens, had attended a block party in Swainsboro. Michael Gardner, Givens’s cousin, testified at trial that, at some point during the party, Givens “went down the street and started playing cards” and ended up with “a lot of money.” Later, while Givens and Gardner were speaking, Dickerson “walked by [them] … maybe eight or ten times.” Each time, Dickerson looked “[k]ind of mad” and had his hand “in his pocket” on what Gardner believed – from the imprint in Dickerson’s hoodie – to be a 9mm gun. A few minutes later, Gardner heard a gunshot and Givens said, “I knew [Dickerson] was going to do that s**t, let’s leave.”
Givens and his girlfriend left around 11:00 p.m and Givens was shot roughly four hours later.
Court Proceedings
In December 2016, an Emanuel County grand jury indicted Dickerson on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Criminal Attempt to Commit Armed Robbery and four counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony.
During the September 2017 trial, witnesses testified that Dickerson was acting suspicious around Givens and had expressed his need for money. One witness testified that Dickerson was the person they observed shooting Givens and in addition to being observed wiping off a gun, Dickerson left for New Jersey.
The medical examiner testified at trial that Givens suffered “three gunshot wound defects,” all resulting from a single bullet, which caused him to bleed out within “several minutes.” The examiner found “no gunpowder stippling or gunpowder residue or soot on the skin,” indicating that the shot was likely fired from more than four feet away.
A jury ultimately acquitted Dickerson of the Malice Murder charge and one of the gun charges, but found him guilty of Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Attempted Armed Robbery, and a host of firearms related offenses. A Superior Court Judge sentenced Dickerson to serve life without parole, plus additional time for the other charges – all to be served consecutively.
Dickerson asked for a new trial, but after hearings in both 2019 and 2022, was denied in an order issued in February 2025. He subsequently appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court four days after his Motion for a New Trial was denied, contending that:
- the trial court erroneously allowed evidence of ‘prior bad acts’ to be admitted for the jury to consider
- The trial court erred in giving jury instructions on flight and witness intimidation
- his counsel was ineffective for
- failing to object when the State presented evidence at trial and argued during closing that two of the State’s witnesses were intimidated,
- failing to object to inadmissible and prejudicial hearsay, and
- failing to object to irrelevant and highly prejudicial character evidence
Ultimately, the state’s high court affirmed Dickerson’s convictions, finding that his counsel was not constitutionally ineffective and, if the prior act evidence was erroneously permitted, the error was harmless due to the overwhelming evidence of guilt.
Dickerson is currently in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections and serving his sentence at Telfair State Prison.
