Employees at Gray’s Mortuary say funeral services for Jeremy Dickerson are set for Saturday at 11am. The funeral will be held at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park at the Mausoleum Chapel at 2609 North Highway 29 in Anderson.
Deputies say Jeremy Dickerson was killed when his father beat him to death with a mop handle.
James Dickerson has been charged with one count of homicide by child abuse and one count of unlawful conduct of a child. Officials say he won't be allowed to attend the boy's funeral. The Sheriff's Office said it was against policy to allow inmates to attend funerals.
He is being held in the Anderson County Detention Center.
James Dickerson and the boy’s mother, Misty Owens, argued about where Jeremy would be buried after he died, leading to a postponement of the funeral.
Anderson County deputy coroner Don McCown says that because James Dickerson hasn’t been convicted, he still has custodial rights over the boy.
The body was released on Wednesday to Gray’s Mortuary after the parents reached an agreement over the issue.
Both parents wanted the boy buried in two different places.
The mortuary was James Dickerson's preference and the families agreed on it, McCown says.
McCown says someone also donated a mausoleum for the boy's body. McCown says he doesn't know who donated it.
His mother, Misty Owens, was trying to get custody of the boy and his brother – who was also injured in the incident -- when he died.
Court documents show that his 5-year-old brother was not Dickerson's biological son, and that Dickerson was given custody of Jeremy and his brother, because of physical neglect by their mother.
Deputies say Jeremy's brother was also injured in the incident.
Owens tells News Channel 7 that during a court hearing in Anderson County Tuesday morning, the Department of Social Services said she must undergo a hair strand drug test and take parenting classes before she could be considered for custody.
Owens admitted to Carmen Coursey that she has been a drug addict in the past, but claims she is clean now and is willing to do everything DSS asks of her. She has two more scheduled meetings with DSS later this month.
A SLED background check shows Dickerson has been arrested twice before. Once in June 2008 for a DUI and again in Aug. 2008 for criminal domestic violence. He was convicted on the criminal domestic violence charge.
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