Defendant Sentenced For Firearm Possession In Road Rage Incident

Greensboro, N.C. – United States Attorney Matthew G.T. Martin of the Middle District of North Carolina announced that Billy Ray Dickerson, Jr. was sentenced to 92 months confinement on May 15, 2018, by the Honorable Judge Thomas D. Schroeder for felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents, Dickerson, age 46, of Butner, North Carolina, was driving a plumbing van in Durham on April 4, 2017, when he aggressively tailgated another vehicle. The other driver pulled over to let Dickerson pass. Instead, Dickerson pulled beside the man, threatened to “send him to his maker,” and called him a racial slur several times before pulling out a handgun and firing it as the other driver sped off.

Dickerson then wrecked into another vehicle and was seen throwing items in the back of the van. A Davis Industries .380 caliber pistol, model P-380 was located in the back of the van. Dickerson was arrested that day on several related state charges. Before a search warrant could be executed to retrieve evidence of gunshot residue from his hands, Dickerson urinated on the floor and rubbed his hands in the urine, in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart the test for gunshot residue.

Dickerson has prior federal convictions for drug and counterfeiting offenses. In 1997, the defendant was convicted of Felony Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine and Marijuana and Felony Structuring Transactions in the Eastern District of North Carolina and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. In 2012, Dickerson pled guilty to Felony Passing, Uttering, and Publishing Counterfeit Obligations and was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.

At sentencing, the Court heard evidence of two other uncharged incidents in December of 2016 and February of 2017 involving Dickerson. In both incidents, Dickerson brandished a handgun, made threats, and discharged a handgun. In addition to the 92 months imprisonment, Dickerson was ordered to serve three years of supervised release at the conclusion of his prison sentence.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Durham County Sheriff’s Office. Special Assistant United States Attorney Kennedy Gates prosecuted the case.

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