NORTH HAVERHILL — A 23-year old Lebanon man who punched a 79-year old man, who later died, during a 2019 carjacking in Haverhill plans to plead guilty to manslaughter and witness tampering at his upcoming plea and sentencing hearing next Thursday, according to a plea agreement filed with Grafton Superior Court.
Brenden Harriman was indicted by a Grafton County grand jury in 2020 on charges of manslaughter, negligent homicide and theft in the November 2019 incident that resulted in the death of North Haverhill resident David Dickey.
If a judge approves the plea deal, Harriman would receive a 12- to 25-year sentence on the manslaughter plea, with credit for time served since his Nov. 4, 2019, incarceration, according to the agreement. He would also receive a 3½- to 7-year sentence on the witness tampering charge, all suspended for 10 years.
Dickey had picked up Harriman in November 2019 at the intersection of Route 10 and Horse Meadow Road, near the Grafton County House of Corrections in North Haverhill, where Harriman had been recently released, according to police.
Once in the car, Harriman threatened to stab Dickey unless he pulled over, and when Dickey refused to get out of the car Harriman punched him several times until he relented and got out of the car. Bloodied by the attack, Dickey first went to Cottage Hospital and later was transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where his condition worsened and he was eventually placed in a medically induced coma. He later died.
The coroner determined the cause of Dickey’s death was “homicide (assault by another person),” according to the affidavit.