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Background: News footage of Charles Lee Dawson (far right) with his attorney when he learned he was found guilty of first-degree murder on July 31 (WVVA). Inset: Keri Michelle Billings (Cravens-Shires Funeral Home).
A West Virginia man who murdered a woman in front of her two daughters will spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury told the judge to show no mercy.
Charles Lee Dawson, 45, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of first-degree murder on July 31. Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Brian K. Cochran said in a press release obtained by WVNS, a local Fox and CBS affiliate, that Dawson shot 32-year-old Keri Michelle Billings in the head with an AR-15 rifle in front of her two young daughters on Oct. 9, 2023.
According to Cochran, Dawson told Billings that “this is the end game for her, and that he was going to split her head” before he aimed the rifle at her head and fired.
WVVA, a local NBC affiliate, was in the courtroom when Dawson was found guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, wanton endangerment, and two counts of gross child neglect. According to WVVA”s reporting, the jury deliberated for just an hour and a half. Dawson wept upon hearing the verdict.
Cochran stated that on Aug. 1, a bifurcated trial resulted in a jury recommending that the judge show no mercy in his sentence on the first-degree murder charge, meaning that Dawson will never have a chance at parole. Dawson also received decades of prison time for the other charges he was convicted of, including 30 years for kidnapping Billings’ daughters.
The two girls, whose ages were not made available, watched their mother being gunned down and took the stand as witnesses during Dawson’s trial. Cochran praised the girls for being “smart enough to record the incident, because they knew what was about to happen, because Dawson said what he was going to do.”
While the two girls were in the same room, Dawson told Billings “that she’s getting the death sentence, that this is the end game for her, and that he was going to split her head, right before aiming the AR-15 at her head and firing.”
WVVA reported that Dawson’s defense tried to claim that he did not have a “plan” to kill Billings on the day of the murder and should be convicted of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Cochran explained, “It is never fun to have a child have to testify in cases like this, but it is a requirement because every defendant has a right to confront each witness against him, but the kids both did great, and just simply told the truth.”
