By Dave Stafford
The Herald Bulletin
ANDERSON, Ind. —
Ryan L. Stamm, 30, of Anderson, pleaded guilty to felony murder and other charges Friday, days ahead of the scheduled start of his trial for the killing last year of a Pendleton man during a drug deal.
Michael A. Dickey, 33, of Pendleton, died on Oct. 24, 2009, after he had been shot three times. Dickey managed to call police, and authorities say that as he lay dying on the Saturday night of Oct. 24, 2009, he told Pendleton officer Mike Alford that Stamm had pulled the trigger.
Dickey had been shot once in the chest, once in the shoulder and once in the head, Madison County Prosecutor Tom Broderick said. He was airlifted to Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis and died at 12:01 a.m. that Sunday.
Stamm, whose trial was to begin Tuesday, pleaded guilty to murder as a Class A felony, Class C felony charges of carrying a handgun without a license, conspiracy to deal a controlled substance and dealing in a controlled substance, and a Class D felony charge of criminal recklessness.
Broderick said he would ask Madison County Circuit Court Judge Rudolph “Rudy” Pyle III to impose the maximum possible sentence of 65 years. Pyle on Friday set Stamm’s sentencing for Oct. 4, and Stamm faces a minimum sentence of 45 years in prison.
“It’s a very good resolution from our perspective,” Broderick said Friday evening.
Stamm’s attorney, Bryan Williams, said Stamm shot Dickey in self defense. He said prosecutors initially filed straight murder charges. “We felt there would be no way they would be able to prove a murder charge,” Williams said.
But months later, prosecutors amended the charges to felony murder and added the drug-dealing charges.
“Ryan said all along he was there to buy pills from Michael Dickey,” Williams said. “In the course of that, Michael Dickey pulled the gun on him.” Williams said Stamm wrestled the gun from Dickey and then fired the shots. “I don’t think there’s any dispute the gun used was Michael Dickey’s gun.”
But because the shooting took place during the commission of the crime, “by this own confession he’s guilty of felony murder,” Williams said, noting self defense cannot be claimed in a felony murder case. Because of those amended charges, “we didn’t see any advantage in having a trial given that offer,” Williams said.
Investigators say that Stamm and two other people identified as Jessica Schmink and Vincent Brown went to Dickey’s home in the 500 block of Taylor Street in Pendleton last Oct. 24 intending to illegally purchase Xanax and other prescription drugs.
Broderick said Stamm went into Dickey’s house as the two others waited outside. Schmink later told investigators that she heard three shots fired.
Stamm was quickly located near an Anderson service station. He led police on a high-speed chase and eventually fled on foot after police punctured his vehicle’s tired with stop sticks. He was tracked to his arrest by an APD K-9 unit.
A 9-mm handgun was found in Stamm’s car, and Broderick said Indiana State Police confirmed it was the weapon that killed Dickey.
At the time of Stamm’s arrest, Pendleton Police Chief Marc Farrer said police found “a large number of pills” in Stamm’s car.
Broderick said investigator Stan Brown, the Pendleton police department, chief deputy prosecutor James M. Nave and deputy prosecutor Andrew Hopper were instrumental in bringing the case against Stamm to resolution.
Williams said Stamm has shown remorse and that he and Dickey had been friends for years before that fatal night last year.
“It was drugs that brought them together and kept them together unfortunately,” Williams said. “When you’re dealing pills and taking pills, bad things are going to happen. Unfortunately, it did that night.”
Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com
