Teen accused of killing Hanford grad at age 13 will be tried as adult

Layshawne Bethea-Dickerson was barely a teen when he allegedly helped gun down an 18-year-old Richland woman.

For 2 1/2 years his attorneys have fought to keep his trial out of adult court.

But this week a Benton County Superior Court judge ruled that the now 16-year-old has shown no empathy, a history of gang-related violence and even allegedly bragged about killing the Hanford High grad.

Now Dickerson will go to trial for aggravated first-degree murder in adult court and, if convicted, could face up to life in a Washington state prison.

The gang member was the youngest of four accused shooters who fired more than 70 times at a Jeep on Chemical Drive near East Third Avenue in October 2022.

His three co-defendants Isaiah S.R. Combs, 22, Marcell A. E. Cola, 19, and Darrious Thomason, 19, are also charged with aggravated first-degree murder.

A conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.

However, Bethea-Dickerson, Cola and Thomason would be eligible for parole after serving 25 years because they were younger than 18 when the shooting happened. Combs would never be eligible for parole.

Judge Norma Rodriguez’s decision last week to allow the case to move from juvenile to adult court followed a five-day hearing in December. In her 21-page decision, she said she found no signs that he could be rehabilitated.

At the hearing, witnesses described Bethea-Dickerson as a a child with a history of fighting and gang involvement who had a loving mother and grandmother who couldn’t control him.

And after the shooting Dickerson bragged while he was hanging out at the 3-City Sports Bar on Columbia Drive in Kennewick about firing the shots that killed Sarabia.

His attitude toward the murder didn’t change even after his arrest in November 2022, said investigators. He bragged about wanting to get a “187” tattoo, a reference to the California Penal Code for homicide.

Defense expert, Alexander Patterson, a clinical psychologist, described Dickerson as personable, friendly, charming, intelligent and guarded. He said he was young, and his brain wouldn’t be fully developed until he was 25.

“Ultimately, he opined that he was not certain the respondent could be rehabilitated,” Rodriguez wrote. “He testified that the younger the person, the more impossible it is to predict rehabilitation.”

Defense attorneys Branden Landon and Hayden Sebald also argued that the system of moving cases from juvenile to adult court unfairly targets people of color like Bethea-Dickerson, who is Black.

Landon told the Tri-City Herald that they are considering whether to appeal Rodriguez’s decision.

Problems at a young age

Bethea-Dickerson was born in Kennewick to a father who abandoned his family. His mother started a relationship with another man when Bethea-Dickerson was still young, and the relationship with his stepfather soured when he learned his biological father had left.

Bethea-Dickerson tried to have a relationship with his biological father, but ended up being rejected, according to court documents.

Former Amistad Elementary Principal Andy Woehler knew Bethea-Dickerson during his entire time at the school. One of his first encounters with Bethea-Dickerson happened when the then-kindergartner punched an older student in the face when he was calling the kindergartners names, court documents said.

“Mr. Woehler described the respondent as being gregarious, not shy, and very curious,” Rodriguez wrote. “He described the respondent as being in either a fight or flight mode. He said the respondent would lash out if he did not like something and would not always back down.”

While Woehler and other educators tried to correct Bethea-Dickerson’s trouble-making tendencies, he continued to have problems as he moved to Desert Hills Middle School.

“There were countless reports of the respondent being disruptive, physically aggressive and threatening towards students and staff,” Rodriguez said about Principal Desiree Martinez’s testimony. “He regularly used foul language to include sexual and homophobic comments. He also had a history of bullying, theft and harassment.”

He was 8 when he was first caught with alcohol and other drugs, and 9 when he joined a gang, according to testimony.

He later was pulled from the school because he missed too much school. When he re-enrolled the school district gave him special classes, but that and everything else proved not to halt the problems, according to court documents.

In January 2022, he was investigated by police for assaulting another student and stealing a cellphone.

He was released to his family and supposed to remain on house arrest, but a juvenile probation counselor testified Bethea-Dickerson was not there when he visited the house to check in.

Bethea-Dickerson was booked back into the Benton-Franklin Juvenile Detention Center where he stayed until he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault, committing a hate crime and third-degree theft in September 2022.

A month after his release, he allegedly fired the shots that killed Sarabia.

Spokane trip and a shooting

The story behind the shooting started with what fellow gang member Isaiah Combs believed was an insult.

Bethea-Dickerson and Combs had gone Spokane with the women who would later be the victims of the shooting, said investigators. One of the women needed to use the bathroom and asked for a napkin.

“The use (of the) word ‘napkin’ set Combs off as it was apparently an offensive word towards his gang,” Rodriguez wrote, referring to the testimony of Benton County sheriff’s Detective Cameron Boehning.

Combs pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot one of the women over of the perceived slight.

After returning to the Tri-Cities, the women agreed to meet back up with Combs at the 3-City Sports Bar on Columbia Drive, believing they had worked out their problems with him. Then, they all decided to head to a party in Finley, east of Kennewick.

The women were driving separately when they spotted the cars that Combs and the others were in. When they started following them, people inside began shooting at them.

Sarabia, who was in the back seat, was hit, and died in the car.

The cars with the alleged shooters returned to the bar, where one of the drivers, Maya Williams, heard Bethea-Dickerson excitedly take credit for killing Sarabia, according to court documents. He said he shot her twice and saw her head go back.

Before and after the murder, Bethea-Dickerson shared photos of himself with guns on Instagram, in one he held four guns, in another he pointed a gun at the camera. He was also pictured inside a casino.

After his arrest, he allegedly told someone on the phone, “I’m going to take my murder and going to try to get a lower sentence.”

He also said that he was going to get a “187” tattoo during a class at juvenile detention. When he was told to stop, Bethea-Dickerson allegedly said that he “earned” the tattoo.

This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.