Opinion ID: 1922396
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Richardson Murder

Text: On October 7, 1991, Ronald Richardson, a corrections officer, was scheduled to testify as a complaining witness in the trial of Michael Page, who was charged with kidnaping two correctional officers, including Richardson, from a halfway house. Richardson was gunned down in front of his home as he left to meet with the prosecutor on the morning of trial. His daughter heard about a dozen shots, and from her window, saw three men in the middle of the street, one of whom stuck a gun down his pants. She observed the men enter a burgundy colored Dodge Caravan, which was parked in front of her father's car, and drive away. She spotted her father on the ground and called the police. Richardson had sustained multiple gunshot wounds from which he died. Eric Pleasant, co-defendant Terry Pleasant's cousin, read about Richardson's murder in the newspaper and recognized the name of Michael Page in the account. [2] Eric had seen his cousin, Terry, with Tony Hammond, Chester Wright and Sweet, and he had associated with them occasionally. Shortly after Richardson's murder, Terry informed Eric that we got one around your way, which Eric understood to mean that they had murdered someone. Eric asked Terry if he was referring to the corrections officer, and Terry responded, Yeah. Eric knew that Terry drove a burgundy Caravan at the time of the murder, and later Terry informed Eric that he had driven the car to the scene of the murder. Eric knew a police deputy chief and spoke to him later about the crime. The deputy chief had Eric debriefed by Detective Will. Detective Will conveyed information about the case to Detective Gregory who applied for a warrant for Terry Pleasant's arrest. Terry Pleasant was arrested the next day. After his arrest, Eric spoke with Chester Wright who informed him that Terry should be home soon because he did not kill Richardson. When Terry was released from jail, Eric spoke to him about the comment. Terry responded, Man, Chester Wright and Bradley [Sweet] better take their beef, because he wasn't going to take it.