DELMAR, DE - The Supreme Court of Delaware has denied the appeal of the man convicted of and sentenced to life for killing Delmar police officer Keith Heacook.
According to court documents, Delaware’s highest judicial body ruled against Randon Wilkerson’s appeal on January 7, 2024. Wilkerson was previously found guilty on all counts for the 2021 murder of Cpl. Heacook and received a double life sentence in prison plus 212 years and 30 days.
In February 2024, Wilkerson filed an appeal with the Delaware Supreme Court, primarily arguing he had unknowingly taken bath salts when he intended to only use methamphetamine the day he fatally assaulted Heacook, according to court documents acquired by WBOC. The Delaware Supreme Court has rejected that involuntary intoxication defense.
According to the Court’s opinion, Wilkerson was a “veteran” drug user and spent about $400 per day on illegal drugs. For his 30th birthday on April 24 and 25, 2021, the Supreme Court says Wilkerson and his girlfriend drank about 100 small bottles of vodka and that Wilkerson’s girlfriend injected a substance which he thought was methamphetamine into his arm. Wilkerson then used crack, cocaine, and heroin.
Wilkerson then began acting violently and erratically, prompting the call to 911 and Cpl. Keith Heacook being dispatched in the early hours of April 25, 2021 in Delmar. Wilkerson attacked Heacook before assaulting two elderly neighbors, then returned to continue assaulting the police officer. Cpl. Heacook died three days later.
The Delaware Supreme Court says Wilkerson’s legal counsel began developing an involuntary intoxication defense by arguing his girlfriend had unknowingly injected bath salts into his arm instead of methamphetamine. The Court noted in their opinion that a toxicology screening the day of Wilkerson’s arrest showed methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl in his blood, but not bath salts.
A later attempt to test for bath salts in Wilkerson’s blood in 2022 was inconclusive, according to court documents, as the vial containing the blood broke during transport. Without the option of an involuntary intoxication defense, Wilkerson waived his right to a jury trial and was found guilty on 16 counts in a Delaware Superior Court. He then appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court, arguing the Superior Court violated his constitutional rights by excluding his involuntary intoxication defense.
On January 7, 2025, the Supreme Court of Delaware affirmed the Superior Court’s ruling, arguing that the involuntary intoxication defense was not viable as Wilkerson had knowingly taken other illegal drugs and was voluntarily intoxicated.
“...We hold that a person who knowingly introduces an unlawful intoxicating substance into his or her body is precluded from presenting an involuntary intoxication defense unless certain statutory exceptions apply,” the Delaware Supreme Court’s opinion reads.
Delaware’s highest court goes on to conclude: “We AFFIRM the judgment of the Superior Court insofar as Wilkerson could not assert the involuntary intoxication defense as a matter of law.”
The Delaware Supreme Court's full published opinion can be found here.
