6/30/2010

A 23-year-old Kenai man has been formally charged with criminally negligent homicide, in connection with the death of his mother’s boyfriend after a domestic disturbance.  In court documents from the Kenai Police Department and Investigator Jeff Whannell,  Kenai Police received a 9-1-1 call from Teresa Dedrick, on the morning of June 19th, reporting that her son had assaulted her boyfriend, Mickey Griffin.  Griffin, who was unresponsive, was transported to Central Peninsula Hospital and, then, Providence Hospital in Anchorage, where he later died. 

During its investigation, the Kenai Police determined that there had been an altercation between Griffin and 23-year-old Robert Charles Dedrick, Jr. at 502 Mapes on the evening of June 18^th.  According to the police, the altercation between Dedrick and Griffin centered on Dedrick’s concern that his mother and Griffin were drunk.  Dedrick wanted to leave with his girlfriend, another friend, as well as two small children. 

Teresa Dedrick told police that her son got into an argument with Griffin that led to her son hitting Griffin twice in the head.  Meanwhile, Robert Dedrick, Jr. told police that Griffin had confronted him near the front door of the home, grabbed him, and knocked down a small child.  Dedrick admitted striking Griffin in the head twice, when he would not let him leave.  Dedrick denied trying to hurt Griffin. 

On Tuesday, in Kenai Superior Court, Dedrick entered a not guilty plea for the charge of criminally negligent homicide.

Filed under: News by Joe Nicks