Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Trial date set in road-rage slaying
David Andrew Desper charged in fatal encounter with Rustin High grad Bianca Roberson
WEST CHESTER » The Common Pleas Court judge overseeing the case of a Delaware County man accused in the road-rage death of a Bayard Rustin High School graduate last summer has set a trial date in the matter.
Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft met with attorneys from both the prosecution and defense in her chambers on Thursday to discuss scheduling of the trial for David Andrew Desper, who has been charged with firing a shot that killed Bianca Roberson as they jockeyed for position in their cars on Route 100. Afterwards, the judge ordered that jury selection begin in Desper’s trial on May 17 and 18, with the actual trial beginning on May 21.
A pre-trial hearing on defense attorney Daniel McGarrigle’s motions will be held on March 22, Wheatcraft decided.
Desper, 28, of Trainer, is charged with first- and third-degree murder and related charges in the June death of Roberson, a popular Westtown teen who had been shopping with her grandmother to prepare for college just minutes before she was shot once while in her car on the busy highway outside West Chester.
He is being held without bail in Chester County Prison, where he has been since his arrest a few days after the shooting.
The random crime – there is no suggestion that the two had any connection before their fateful encounter – shocked the region, if not the nation, and led to a multi-state
manhunt for the driver of a red Chevrolet Silverado pickup seen fleeing the scene in a surveillance video. Police were eventually able to trace the truck – as well as a bullet fragment – to Desper, a construction contractor with no serious criminal record.
Desper’s trial had been continued in November and was on Wheatcraft’s trial list for Thursday. There was no realistic expectation, however, that the trial would begin that day, however, as the two sides are continuing with trial preparation.
Prosecutors assigned to the case from the Chester County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case, as is the office’s standard procedure for upcoming trials. McGarrigle could not be reached for comment.
Roberson died of a single gunshot wound to the head while she and Desper apparently jockeyed for position stretch of Route 100 where the road narrows to one lane where it connects to Route 202 about 5:30 p.m. on June 28. Roberson’s car went off the road, down and embankment and slammed into a tree.
Police initially did not know that Roberson’s death was a homicide until an autopsy concluded that she had been shot.
Viewing a video surveillance camera located on the Route 100 spur, police identified a faded red pickup truck as being the vehicle most likely belonging to the assailant. An eyewitness, who told police he was driving in front of Roberson’s 2009 Chevrolet Malibu when he heard a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot, saw the pickup racing away.
The incident sparked a massive manhunt that would involve the West Goshen police and Chester County detectives, as well as countless other departments in the Tri-State area, as well as thousands of interested persons across the country.
According to West Goshen officials, the video surveillance was able to ascertain that the red pickup had sped south on Route 202, then exited onto Paoli Pike. The direction of travel from there led police to believe the truck was headed south on Route 352 toward Delaware County.
Police were able to use a fragment of the bullet that killed Roberson to identify the murder weapon as a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun. When they were eventually able to track the red Chevrolet Silverado to an address in Concord, Delaware County, they were able to identify Desper as the owner. Going to his home in Trainer, they allegedly found the murder weapon in a bedroom, and unused ammunition in a trash can outside the home, according to the affidavit filed by West Goshen Officer Jose Torres, a former state trooper, and Chester County Detective Benjamin Martin, who came to the D.A.’s Office from East Pikeland police.
Desper had purchased the gun legally in 2015, and had a permit to carry it – which means he could have it in his vehicle while he drove.
When he announced Desper’s arrest in July at a news conference, District Attorney Tom Hogan called Roberson’s death “a savage, brutal act.” Hogan noted the victim was “gunned down because somebody didn’t want to give way” on a roadway.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.