By Joe Ragusa

BLOOMINGTON – A Bloomington man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder of Ronald Smith and two other robberies that occurred on the same night in June 2014.

The prosecution wanted a longer sentence for Anthony Davis-Dickson, 20, because the murder was part of a game he was playing with his friends. Assistant State’s Attorney Jacob Harlow called the game, “Point em out, knock em out,” where a group of people point out random strangers in public and attack them. That’s what Harlow said Davis-Dickson and the two co-defendants were playing when they beat the homeless veteran to death at O’Neill Park.

Harlow asked for a 70-year sentence but Judge Scott Drazewski went with a shorter one because Davis-Dickson showed remorse for Smith’s death and he also shows potential for rehabilitation.

Michael Zopf, Davis-Dickson’s attorney, said the state wouldn’t have been able to pursue murder charges had it not been for the defendant’s interview with police a few days after Smith was attacked.

Zopf said prosecutors also wouldn’t have known about the two other co-defendants, Tory Washington and Willie Chambers. Those two pleaded guilty and testified against Davis-Dickson during his trial in September. Zopf called Washington “pathetic” and claimed Chambers was “a thug.”

“If Willie is a thug and Tory is pathetic, I know it’s rhetorical, but what does that make the defendant?” Drazewski asked during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

One of Davis-Dickson’s longtime friends, Brandon Major, testified during the sentencing hearing. Major was paralyzed from the neck-down in an accident seven years ago and he said Davis-Dickson was one of the only friends who stood by him as he battled depression in the years following his injury.

Major moved to Arizona recently but that didn’t stop him from testifying in support of his friend.

“I would drive all the way here for Anthony, no matter what,” Major said.

Davis-Dickson will see less time in prison than Chambers, who Zopf described as a “rabid dog.” Chambers was sentenced to 42 years in prison in October. Washington will be sentenced in January.

Because of the way Davis-Dickson’s sentences are structured, he’s required to serve all of a 35-year sentence for murder and at least half of a five-year sentence for the two robberies. Both sentences run consecutively. Davis-Dickson was given credit for 537 days of time served on the charges.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].