Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Sentencing slated in road-rage murder
David Andrew Desper faces 20 to 40 years in state prison for 2017 slaying of Bianca Nikol Roberson
WEST CHESTER >> Thursday, Dec. 13, promises to be an emotional day at the Chester County Justice Center.
That is the day that Common Pleas Court Judge Ann Marie Wheatcraft has set for the sentencing hearing in the case of David Andrew Desper, the Delaware County man who shot and killed a Westtown teenager in a road-rage incident on a stretch of West Goshen highway.
Wheatcraft set the date in September, and gave the two sides until this Friday to submit victim impact statements and letters from Desper’s friends and family to the county’s Adult Probation Office, which is responsible for compiling a pre-sentencing report in the case — setting forth not only Desper’s background but also the effect the murder has had on the family and friends of the victim, Bianca Nikol Roberson.
Wheatcraft gave the prosecution, led by Assistant District Attorney Christopher Miller and Deputy District Attorney Michelle Frei, and Desper’s defense attorney, Daniel McGarrigle of Media, the option of deciding on their own how many witnesses they would present for testimony, saying the only limitation on each side would be the amount of time they take. She said the sentencing hearing would begin at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at 2:30 p.m., with a lunch break from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30
p.m., or two hours for each side.
Traditionally, the prosecution is given the opportunity to present its side first, followed by the defense. Desper will be allowed to make whatever statement he wishes to both the judge and the victim’s family, both in writing and in open court. At times, judges will hear all the evidence presented and then take a break to mull over the information before emerging from chambers to announce the sentence.
The proceeding will likely be held in one of the courthouse’s two larger courtrooms to accommodate what is expected to be a overflow turnout of supporters on both sides and local newspaper and television media.
Desper, 36, of Trainer, Delaware County, pleaded guilty to charges of thirddegree murder, a first-degree felony, and possession of instruments of crime, a first-degree misdemeanor, in September before a scheduled trial in the case that made national headlines for its random tragic nature.
Roberson, a recent Rustin High School graduate, died of a single gunshot wound to the head in June 2017 as she drove home from a day of pre-college shopping.
Desper, 36, did not address the court during that 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.
The charges against Desper, who has no serious criminal record, carries with them a possible maximum sentence of 22½ to 45 years in state prison, 20 to 40 years for the murder and two and a half to five years for the possession of an instrument of crime. It will be Wheatcraft’s task to decide what length of time Desper will serve.
The plea represented a difficult compromise between the first-degree murder conviction the prosecution had been seeking, and any conviction on a lesser charge — including manslaughter — that the defense had hoped for.
Supporters of Roberson’s family, some of whom expressed displeasure at the plea on social media ahead of the proceeding, filled up every available seat in Wheatcraft’s small courtroom during the plea hearing.
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, Miller 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 McGarrigle about his client’s 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 father Rodney Roberson, as Bianca’s mother stood 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.
At the plea hearing, McGarrigle 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, ending a regional search for the driver in a red pickup truck that had been captured on video footage leaving the scene of Roberson’s death.
Roberson was 18 years old and had just graduated from West Chester’s Bayard Rustin High School when she went shopping in Exton on June 28, 2017, and started to drive home on the Route 100 spur in West Goshen. There, she encountered Desper in his 2002 red Chevrolet Silverado around 5:30 p.m., and police say the two began jockeying for position as the two-lane highway merges into a single lane.
According to witnesses, the two cars battled for space along the highway, each trying to pass one another. At some point, however, Desper pulled a loaded .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semi-automatic handgun from his driver’s compartment, pointed it out his open passenger window, and fired it at Roberson’s 2012 Chevrolet Malibu, according to the plea information presented to Wheatcraft.
Bianca Roberson was in the right lane of travel and Desper was to her left. When approaching the merger of Routes 100 and 202, Desper’s lane of travel ended. At the time he shot Roberson, the defendant had no lawful justification or excuse and acted with malice, the prosecution maintained.
Roberson, fatally injured, veered off the highway and into a roadside ditch. Desper sped off as other drivers watched and the incident was partially captured on surveillance cameras.
“The defendant did not stop or call for assistance and instead fled the area,” Miller stated. He “left his red pickup truck at a friend’s house and went to Delaware.
After several days, the defendant voluntarily surrendered to authorities at McGarrigle’s office on July 2, 2017, and has been held without bail in Chester County Prison since. A search of his residence, which McGarrigle pointed the investigators to, led police to recover the .40-caliber firearm used in the murder.