Hearing put off for teenage murder suspect

Postponement is to allow family time to find a lawyer.

A preliminary hearing for a 16-year-old Clayton County murder suspect has been reset for January to give the boy’s family time to find its own lawyer.

Stanley Dixon is accused of killing Cedric Clark, a Drew High School junior found dead Nov. 1 in the backyard of a home in the Eagles Crossing subdivision in Riverdale. Dixon is facing murder and aggravated assault charges.

Clark left his home with a friend headed to the store, according to his family. But police say Clark wound up going to the Eagles Crossing area to settle a score from a schoolyard fight earlier in the day. They suspect Dixon ran from his home and shot Clark, who crawled to the backyard of a home where the homeowner found him dead the next day.

Clayton police are investigating whether Clark and Dixon were affiliated with any gangs. Clark had no prior criminal record.

Dixon’s hearing will be Jan. 3.

Clark is among a halfdozen young people who have died violently in Clayton since October.

On Oct. 4, two Riverdale High School students died in a suspected murder-suicide at a Riverdale home. On Oct. 22, a 15-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister were killed in a home invasion, an act police have called gang retaliation. The most recent death occurred last Friday when a 16-year-old walked into a McDonald’s on Tara Boulevard and shot his 18-year-old co-worker, allegedly because he thought the other teen had stolen his cell phone and wallet.