Richardson sentenced in wife’s murder
By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Munising BureauArticle Photos
Though Richardson’s sentence of life in prison without parole had already been set by law, the intensity in the packed courtroom was not diminished.
Sheriff’s deputies guarded the two exit doors to the hallway. Reporters and camera crews were crowded into the jury box. And a large clock hanging on the wall marked a minute or so before 11 a.m.
Richardson, 46, clad in an orange county jail jumpsuit, was led to the defendant’s table from the jury deliberations room. Police had concealed him there earlier in the day, before the first courtroom spectators had arrived.
Richardson walked to the table, flanked by his attorneys. His left wrist was handcuffed to a leather waist belt and he wore a blue cloth sling over his right arm. He would later say he’d recently dislocated his shoulder doing over-the-head push-ups in the jail.
In the audience sat police officers and park rangers who investigated the June 22, 2006, fatal fall of Richardson’s wife Juanita at the Pictured Rocks cliffs. Spectators from Richardson’s six-week jury trial were there too. Family members were still split in two clear factions seated on wooden benches on either side of the courtroom’s single aisle.
There were also jurors from the trial there to see the man they convicted sentenced for his wife’s murder. Some of them wore purple shirts in homage to Juanita Richardson. Her parents and many others had donned purple T-shirts, with “Justice for Juanita” stitched on the front. The purple color was an attempt to call attention to domestic violence prevention efforts.
Across the room, Richardson’s three children sat together, dressed in black, on the aisle, next to his mother and father. Richardson’s son Levi wore wrap-around sunglasses like his dad’s. They were pushed up on his head. Daughters Laceine and Lindsay — like other Richardson family members — wore white ribbons on the lapels of their outfits, signifying their father’s innocence.
Defense attorney Karl Numinen said he would appeal his client’s conviction after the day’s hearing was through. With the sentence perfunctory, Numinen said he had little to add.
Prosecutor Karen Bahrman’s comments were also terse.
“I likewise have very little to say, your honor, for three reasons,” Bahrman said. “One, this is something that really speaks for itself. Two, it is a mandatory sentence. And three, I’m really all talked out at this point.”
Before she sat back down alongside state police and FBI investigators, Bahrman introduced Juanita’s sister Janette Ellens, who read a statement from a notebook to Richardson.
Choking back tears, Ellens held a photo in her hands.
“See this beautiful little girl? This is my sister, Juanita Culver. God gave her to my mom and dad to love and they did,” Ellens said, reaching for a large portrait of her sister. “See this beautiful woman? My mom and dad gave her to you Tom to love. And those vows were not upheld.”
Ellens told Richardson his wife was a “beautiful person loved by many.”
“She worked hard, but she could never please you. Two years ago, you chose to take her from us,” Ellens said. “Not only did you take our daughter, our sister and our aunt, but you also took the mother from your very own children.”
Ellens paused catching her breathe between phrases.
“I can only hope Juanita was oblivious to the evil in your heart,” she said.
Ellens said she wondered if a poem Richardson wrote years ago denouncing his marriage called “I Want to be Free” had new meaning for him.
“The way I see it, Juanita is the one that’s truly free and in better hands now,” Ellens said. “How dare you use the Bible to defend your evil ways. Remember Tom, you are not the author of life, God is.”
Through Ellens, her parents told Richardson they gave him 40 acres of riverfront land and that wasn’t good enough for him.
“So we gave you the nicest home that we ever lived in and that wasn’t good enough for you so you burned it down,” the Culvers said. “We gave you our daughter and she wasn’t good enough for you either, so you pushed her off a cliff. And now, we’re ready to give you one last thing. We want to give you to the state and let them take care of you.”
Richardson turned, pulling out a prepared statement of his own.
“That was touching, Janette,” Richardson said, opening the paper. “Inaccurate, but touching.”
Richardson thanked God for “sustaining us all,” his children for their “undying love,” his family for “their complete support” and his “true friends who didn’t let the rumors sway them.”
He urged his children and Juanita’s parents to reconcile.
“I’d like to thank Juanita who stuck with me through the ups and downs into the best years of our marriage. I loved Juanita and still do in her absence,” Richardson said. “I still seek, as I always have, the reconciliation, grace, mercy and forgiveness of all parties involved and I know that Juanita would wish for nothing less. I pray for the restoration of all damaged relationships. I pray that what Satan meant for evil, God means for good.”
Judge William Carmody, who had sat with glasses on and his hands folded in front of him listening to Richardson’s statement, declined to make extended comments.
Carmody looked at the downstate McBain man standing before him and said, “Mr. Richardson, it is my duty to commit you to the Michigan Department of Corrections, at a location of their choosing, for the term of your natural life without parole. That is the sentence of this court.”
As Richardson was taken from the room by deputies, the spectators filed out quietly, with the uncomfortable silence still hanging in the air.
Within a few hours, a sheriff’s department vehicle passed through the gates of the Marquette Branch Prison, bringing Richardson to what many believe is his just condemnation. For others, the sentence is merely a signpost on what they hope is Richardson’s continuing journey to redemption and deliverance.
