The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Man pleads guilty in ‘road rage’ murder
WEST CHESTER » The Delaware County man whose “cat and mouse” highway encounter with a Westtown teenager turned into a deadly road rage incident admitted on Wednesday that he fired the shot that left her dead by the side of the road.
As the victim’s family looked on in a state of emotional turmoil, David Andrew Desper entered a plea of guilty to third-degree murder charges before Common Pleas Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft in the 2017 death of Bianca Nikol Roberson, a recent high school graduate who died of a single gunshot wound to the head as she drove home from a day of pre-college shopping.
Desper, 36, of Trainer did not address the court during the proceeding, other than to answer Wheatcraft’s questions about the rights to a trial he gave up by entering the plea, which carries with it a maximum possible sentence of 20 to 40 years in state prison. “I’m a little nervous,” he said at one point after interrupting one of Wheatcraft’s queries.
Wheatcraft said she would sentence Desper after a pre-sentencing investigation is completed at a later date, either early December or after the first of the new year. He pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of instruments of crime, a misdemeanor.
The plea represented a difficult compromise between the first-degree murder conviction the prosecution had been seeking, and any lesser charge — including manslaughter — that the defense had hoped for. Jury selection in the trial was to have begun on Sept. 20, with opening statements and testimony beginning Sept. 24.
Supporters of Roberson’s family, some of whom expressed displeasure at the plea on social media Tuesday and Wednesday, gathered inside Wheatcraft’s courtroom, filling up every available seat. In a Facebook post, Michelle Roberson, the victim’s mother, wrote, “We have no choice but to accept 3rd degree murder.” She also suggested that the plea agreement had been communicated to the family only a day before the proceeding.
But in response to questions from Wheatcraft, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Miller, who led the prosecution with Deputy District Attorney Michelle Frei, said that he and others had discussed the matter for some time with the family, as well as police from West Goshen, after he was approached by Desper’s attorney about his willingness to plead guilty to the third degree murder charge.
Miller said his office ultimately did not believe they could prove a first-degree murder case against Desper to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. He and Frei talked the matter over with District Attorney Tom Hogan, who met with Roberson’s family personally to discuss the case, he told the judge
“No one is happy with this situation,” Miller said in court. “No plea will ever bring Bianca Roberson back. And I will not put words in (Roberson’s family’s) mouths that they are happy. But they have agreed to let this go forward. Never have a I met a family more dedicated to their daughter (than the Robersons.)”
Wheatcraft, in a rare move, asked Roberson’s parents — Rodney S. Roberson Sr., and Michelle Roberson — to stand and speak with her about the plea to the lesser murder charge. Neither objected, but they gave no ringing endorsement.
Were they in agreement that the plea was the best resolution to the case, the judge asked? “That is what was offered to us,” said Rodney Roberson, Bianca’s mother standing at his side, visibly distraught.
“I agree that it is a very good resolution,” said Wheatcraft. “Do you understand this is a good resolution? And you will have an opportunity to tell me about your loss. You will have the opportunity to tell me anything you want to (at sentencing). Does that satisfy you today?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered.
Desper’s attorney, Daniel McGarrigle of Media, told Wheatcraft that he had discussed the case with his client for more hours than he could count since his client turned himself in to West Goshen police the morning of July 2. He said he had presented the prosecution with information he had developed during his own investigation, information he said he believed led them to accept the plea to the lesser charge.