1-14-2010 Georgia:
A judge has suppressed "devastating evidence" in Atlanta's only federal death-penalty case -- a chilling interview with Brian Richardson boasting about killing his cellmate and vowing to kill again.
Richardson, 46, is serving more than 60 years in prison for bank robbery. He is
charged with stabbing and strangling Steven Obara at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta in July 2007. Obara, of Madison, Conn., was serving a 1o-year federal sentence for possessing child pornography and had pleaded guilty to sexual assault in state court.
During an April 7, 2008 interview with FBI agents and federal prosecutors, Richardson described how he stabbed Obara with a metal pin
for being a pedophile. He says he also strangled him by stepping on his throat and wrapping a sock around his neck "real, real tight."
He slapped Obara a couple of times to revive him before finally killing him, Richardson said.
During the interview,
Richardson lamented over conditions in the federal prison system and said he hoped Obara's killing would land him on death row or in the maximum security prison known as Supermax in Florence, Colo.
If not, he said coldly, he would kill again -- a fellow inmate or a guard. "Somebody else is gonna get skinned up bad," Richardson said. "First chance I get, I'm gonna kill somebody else. I promise you that."
In his Jan. 4 ruling, U.S. Magistrate Christopher Hagy suppressed the statements because Richardson had initially asked how he could get a lawyer. Richardson previously confessed to killing Obara, but video of the interview, Hagy noted, could be "devastating evidence" in Richardson's yet to be scheduled death-penalty trial.
Richardson "admits on the videotape to stabbing others, threatens to kill again if that's what it takes to get a more desirable prison placement and shows no remorse for killing Obara," Hagy noted.
At the outset of the interview, Richardson told the agents and prosecutors, "I want to talk about how I get a lawyer."
FBI Special Agent Joseph Fonseca replied by telling Richardson they would talk about that. Then Fonseca read Richardson his rights and secured his agreement to answer questions without a lawyer present. Minutes later, the agent was asking Richardson about Obara's murder.
Even though Richardson did not make an unequivocal request for a lawyer, what he said was enough for a reasonable official to consider the statement a request for counsel, Hagy wrote, citing a number or U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
For this reason, Hagy said, any answers Richardson gave after asking about a lawyer must be suppressed. Hagy's recommendation now goes to Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper, who is to preside over Richardson's trial.
Richardson, a former Marine who was raised in Alabama, has numerous tattoos -- a swastika, skulls, a meth monster, a gargoyle and the initials CWA. ("Cracker with attitude," Richardson told agents.) He had recently been transferred to the penitentiary in Atlanta for stabbing an inmate at a Florida prison.
In the interview, Richardson said he wouldn't hesitate to kill another child molester. "If I get a chance to get one, I'm gonna get ‘em," he said, according to a transcript.
One of Richardson's lawyers, federal defender Stephanie Kearns, said her client's initial discussions with agents show he killed Obara because he was a child molester, not because he wanted better placement in the prison system.
"According to the Bureau of Prisons psychiatrist who testified at the [suppression] hearing, Mr. Richardson suffers from paranoid schizophrenia," Kearns said. "At the time the FBI agents and assistant U.S. attorneys interrogated him, Mr. Richardson was not medicated. He is now properly medicated and is much more rational."
..Source.. Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Local Man Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge
7-22-2006 Connecticut:
MADISON -- — A town man pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of possession of child pornography that traveled in interstate commerce, federal law enforcement authorities reported.
Steven Obara, 59, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced Oct. 18, U.S. Attorney Kevin J. O'Connor said.
Obara, a former Durham Road resident, has been detained without bail since he was arrested by federal agents Dec. 15.
..Source..
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UPDATE: Judge decides inmate's chilling interview is admissible
4-19-2010 Georgia:
A judge has decided that a chilling interview of a prison inmate, who boasts of killing his cellmate and vows to kill again, can be used against him in an upcoming federal death-penalty trial.
Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper reversed a ruling by a magistrate judge who recommended the interview with inmate Brian Richardson be suppressed. During the interview with federal agents and prosecutors, Richardson boasts about how he stabbed and strangled his cellmate, Steven Obara, at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta
because Obara was a pedophile.
At issue was whether agents should have halted the April 2008 interview at the outset when Richardson said, "I wanna talk to you about how to get a lawyer." Cooper, in an order signed April 15, found the comment "did not rise to the level of a clear, unequivocal, actual request for counsel to assist him in dealing with custodial interrogation."
Richardson, serving time for bank robbery, is charged with stabbing and strangling Obara in July 2007. Obara, of Madison, Conn., was serving a 10-year federal sentence for possessing child pornography and had pleaded guilty to sexual assault in state court.
During the interview, Richardson lamented over conditions in the federal prison system and said he hoped Obara's killing would land him on death row or in the maximum security prison known as Supermax in Florence, Colo.
If not, he said coldly, he would kill again -- a fellow inmate or a guard. "Somebody else is gonna get skinned up bad, " Richardson said. "First chance I get, I'm gonna kill somebody else. I promise you that." ..Source.. Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Jurors weigh fate of inmate who killed molester
3-20-2012 Georgia:
Authorities say Brian Richardson admitted stabbing and strangling his cellmate at the federal prison in Atlanta
because the cellmate was a convicted child molester. Now a jury is deliberating whether Richardson could face the death penalty for the killing.
Jurors on Tuesday began considering whether Brian Richardson was guilty of first-degree murder for the July 2007 killing of Steven Obara, a 60-year-old who was serving 10 years for possessing child pornography and child molestation. Richardson could be sentenced to death if he's found guilty of the killing.
The rare federal death penalty case — Richardson could be the first person sentenced to death in federal court this year if he's found guilty — featured competing arguments about why Richardson tortured and killed his cellmate after just three days of sharing a cell.
To prosecutors, it's a case of cold-blooded murder. But defense attorneys argue that Richardson should be charged with lesser crimes, such as manslaughter, that wouldn't subject him to the death penalty.
Richardson and Obara were brought together by happenstance when they were put in the same temporary cell at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta as they awaited transfers to other facilities. But prosecutors said Richardson carefully began plotting the murder after discovering his new cellmate's past.
First, they say, Richardson lulled Obara into believing they were friends by sitting next to him at lunch and doing him favors, such as fetching him stamps. Then, on the evening of July 8, 2007, he attacked Obara with a fire extinguisher pin that another inmate had flattened into a shiv.
He stabbed Obara nine times, according to court testimony. He then choked his cellmate, let him regain consciousness, and choked him again, avoiding checks by guards patrolling the prison, prosecutors said. He finally killed Obara by strangling him with a sock.
As his cellmate's dead body lay crumpled on the floor, prosecutors say, Richardson calmly shaved and then alerted authorities that he had killed Obara. He admitted the killing to FBI agents who interviewed him, then vowed to kill again if he wasn't punished for the crime, according to court records.
"You are here because Brian Richardson decided that Steven Obara had to die. Had to die. You're here because Brian Richardson thought he was God. That he had the right to decide that Mr. Obara did not have the right to be on the Earth," prosecutor Richard Moultrie told jurors during closing arguments.
"It ain't complicated. It's a straightforward case," Moultrie told jurors. "He said,
'I killed the man because he was a child molester. And I hate child molesters.'"
Defense attorneys countered that it wasn't so simple. Richardson may have fought Obara because he was tired of hearing him talk about his crime. And, they said,
he was following a "prison code" that requires inmates to rough up child molesters, but just took it too far.
"They are violent places that have rules of their own imposed by inmates on other inmates," said defense attorney Stephanie Kearns. "You have to try to step in the world Mr. Richardson lived in.
And there's a rule in prison that child molesters aren't to be tolerated."
There's enough evidence on the table to convict her client of manslaughter, Kearns said, but prosecutors failed to prove he was guilty of the more serious crime of capital murder. She said her client never intended to kill Obara, but then tried to turn his mistake into an advantage by boasting of the killing to authorities.
"You take a responsibility and maybe get a little more respect from your homeboys," she said.
If the jury convicts Richardson, a lengthy sentencing phase will begin. Prosecutors will argue that Richardson deserves a death sentence and defense attorneys are set to argue that he should face a lesser punishment.
Some 69 federal defendants have been sentenced to death since 1988 and three have been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. One federal convict was sentenced to death in 2011 and none have been sentenced this year, according to the center's data.
..Source.. by Greg Bluestein
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Federal inmate convicted in cellmate slaying
3-22-2012:
A federal inmate could face the death penalty after he was convicted Thursday of murdering his cellmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.
The jury found Brian Richardson guilty of first-degree murder for the July 2007 killing of Steven Obara, who prosecutors say was targeted because he was a child molester. The verdict allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Richardson, who could be the first person sentenced to death in federal court this year.
The case spawned competing arguments about what led to Obara's death. Prosecutors contended it was a case of cold-blooded murder while defense attorneys say he should have been charged with a lesser crime.
Richardson and Obara were brought together by happenstance when they were put in the same temporary cell at the Atlanta prison as they awaited transfers to other facilities. Richardson was in the middle of a 65-year sentence for armed bank robberies while Obara was serving 10 years for possessing child pornography and child molestation.
After Richardson learned of Obara's past, prosecutors said, he began plotting the murder by lulling Obara into believing they were friends. He sat next to him at lunch and did him favors, like getting him stamps, and the two talked frequently in their cells.
That all changed on the evening of July 8, 2007, when Richardson attacked Obara. First, he stabbed his cellmate nine times with a fire extinguisher pin that another inmate had flattened into a shiv, according to testimony. Then he choked him repeatedly, avoiding routine security patrols, before finally strangling him with a sock.
After killing his cellmate, prosecutors say Richardson calmly shaved and then called guards to the cell. In interviews with federal investigators, he admitted to the killing and said he deserved to be punished for his crime by being sent to a maximum security prison or to death row.
"Take him at his word. He hated child molesters," prosecutor Richard Moultrie told jurors during closing arguments on Tuesday. "And you have the opportunity to hold him accountable."
Richardson's lawyers acknowledged he killed his cellmate, but they said circumstances surrounding his death were murky. Defense attorney Stephanie Kearns suggested her client may have been following a "prison code" that requires inmates to rough up child molesters, and the attack quickly spun out of control.
"They are violent places that have rules of their own imposed by inmates on other inmates," she said. "You have to try to step in the world Mr. Richardson lived in. And there's a rule in prison that child molesters aren't to be tolerated."
The guilty verdict means that a lengthy sentencing phase will begin next week. Prosecutors are preparing to argue that Richardson deserves a death sentence for his crime and defense attorneys will counter that he should face a lesser punishment.
Some 69 federal defendants have been sentenced to death since 1988 and three have been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. One federal convict was sentenced to death in 2011 and none have been sentenced this year, according to the center's data.
..Source.. by Greg Bluestein
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Death penalty sought in inmate killing at US Penitentiary
4-24-2012 Georgia:
A prisoner who
murdered his cellmate because he was a child molester is "a stone-cold killer" who deserves the death penalty, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.
In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill McKinnon described Brian Richardson as a violent predator who appointed himself judge and jury to carry out Steven Obara's execution at the U.S. Penitentiary in July 2007. "The only way to deter him from committing other crimes is to sentence him to death," McKinnon said.
Federal defender Brian Mendelsohn pleaded for mercy. He said Richardson was abused by a mother who left him covered with bruises and welts and is a mentally ill man now responding to proper medication.
"He was sorely damaged by the abuse he suffered as a child, the turning points in his life and a history none of us would want for our children," Mendelsohn said. "How we treat the mentally ill speaks volumes about our humanity. Brian is certainly among the most damaged and mentally ill."
In an unusual capital trial in federal court, the jury convicted Richardson last month of Obara's murder. Richardson, whose shaved head is covered with tattoos, stabbed Obara nine times with a shank fashioned from the pin of a fire extinguisher before strangling him. He then shaved and called for guards to take Obara's body away.
Richardson said he killed Obara after learning the 60-year-old man was serving time for child molestation. Richardson, 48, is serving 65 years for armed robberies.
The jury adjourned Tuesday without reaching a verdict. The last federal death sentence was handed down in June by a Connecticut jury against a gang leader who killed rival drug dealers. Since 1997, federal juries in Atlanta have imposed two death sentences -- one against an inmate who killed a prison guard, the other against a man who raped and killed a nurse practitioner.
Because Richardson is already serving the equivalent of a life sentence, a sentence of life in prison without the chance of being released "is simply no punishment," McKinnon told jurors.
In past years Richardson had splashed bleach on a prison guard's face, stabbed one inmate 30 times and stabbed another cellmate in the back of the neck, McKinnon said. After Richardson killed Obara, he talked a troubled inmate across the hallway into committing suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet, the prosecutor said.
"Has this defendant done anything in his entire life to deserve mercy from any of you?" McKinnon asked. "He certainly didn't show Steven Obara any mercy when he decided to execute him."
But Mendolsohn called allegations that Richardson is an evil predator "distorted reality" based on grandiose statements from the defendant himself and inmate snitches who told lies to get their own sentences reduced.
"Brian Richardson is not a stone-cold predatory killer," Mendelsohn said. "There is a huge chance for rehabilitation for Brian Richardson. He is finally on medicine that makes him calm."
Richardson's case has had its share of controversy. Its first two prosecutors were removed and are now being investigated by the Justice Department. This includes one prosecutor who jokingly suggested to an inmate that he would be rewarded if he were to stab one of Richardson's lawyers. This month, Senior U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper forbade the government from calling its own expert witnesses who conducted a mental health evaluation on Richardson after finding prosecutors misled him as to how the evaluation was to be conducted.
..source.. by Bill Rankin
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Ga. inmate avoids death for prison murder
4-27-2012 Georgia:
A federal prisoner who killed his cellmate because he was a child molester was spared the death penalty Thursday when a jury hearing the case could not reach a unanimous verdict.
After deliberating two days, a federal jury in Atlanta could not arrive at a verdict as to whether Brian Richardson should live or die. Without unanimity on death, the sentence of life without the possibility of being released is automatic in federal court.
The jury had convicted Richardson of murdering 60-year-old Steven Obara in July 2007 by stabbing him nine times and then strangling him at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. Richardson said he killed Obara because Obara was serving time for child molestation.
Richardson, 48, was serving a 65-year sentence for armed robberies. For that reason, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill McKinnon told jurors in closing arguments, another life sentence would be "simply no punishment."
McKinnon noted that Richardson had previously attacked a guard by throwing bleach in his face, stabbed other inmates and talked an inmate into committing suicide. "The only way to deter him from committing other crimes is to sentence him to death," he said.
But federal defender Brian Mendelsohn, pleading for mercy, said Richardson was abused as a child and suffers from schizophrenia, which is under control now that he's getting proper medications.
Richardson will be sent to the "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colo., where inmates are locked in their cells 23 hours a day and have little, if any, contact with other inmates or guards, Mendelsohn told jurors. That prison houses terrorists, murderous gang leaders and violent drug kingpins, and there have been no killings there, he said.
After the verdict, Mendelsohn said,"The jury saw that, in spite of the tragic death of Mr. Obara, that Brian's life still had meaning and value. We are grateful that they reached this just result."
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Sally Yates said, "Serving as a juror on a death penalty case is a weighty responsibility. We respect the seriousness with which the jury took this responsibility and appreciate the difficulty of reaching a unanimous verdict on such a momentous decision."
..Source.. by Bill Rankin
1-24-2010 Indiana: