Life sentence splits family

By JOHN PEPIN, Journal Munising Bureau
MUNISING — After Thomas David Richardson was sentenced to life in prison this week, those around him were looking to the future — some for closure others for hope.


After a six-week jury trial, Richardson, 46, of downstate McBain, was convicted April 16 of killing his wife Juanita, who died when she fell 140 feet from the Pictured Rocks cliffs on June 22, 2006.


After a tense sentencing hearing Monday, Juanita Richardson’s sister Janette Ellens — who read a victim impact statement to Richardson in court — said she was relieved.


“I feel justice has been served,” Ellens said. “I just hope that now it’s time we can move on with our lives and remember Juanita in a good positive way, as she was, a good person.”


After the sentencing hearing, some of the family members, including Ellens, met privately with some of the jurors from the trial who attended Monday’s court proceedings.


“They are comfortable and confident with their decision, they told us,” Ellens said. “And they support us and Juanita.”


Don Culver, Juanita’s father, said he was happy Richardson was sentenced to life in prison, feeling the punishment was justified.


“That he’s going where he’s going, that’s where he deserves to be,” Culver said. “If Michigan had the death penalty, I’d say we were cheated if he didn’t get that. I feel real strong about this. Absolutely no doubt in my mind, like the jurors, that he committed this crime. And he needs to go away for the rest of his life.”


Culver said he knew from the first day Richardson had killed his daughter, but he told a local sheriff Richardson would not admit the crime.


“I don’t look for him to ever confess to this,” Culver said.


But despite his satisfaction with the outcome of the trial and sentencing, Culver knows nothing can bring Juanita back to his family.


“I don’t have my daughter back. I’ll never have my daughter back,” Culver said. “But I think this helps in closure. I really believe this is a step and it’s going to help us heal. I know we’ll never totally recover from it. We can’t. But at least justice was done and Tom isn’t benefiting from his evil action.”


Both Culver and Richardson held hopes Monday their families would reconcile, but neither man said they truly expected it to happen. The circumstances surrounding Juanita’s death, and the following two years of investigation and trial, have ripped the families apart.


“I don’t see that (reconciliation) happening, but who knows what’s in the future,” Culver said.


Richardson said even if someone had a videotape proving his innocence in Juanita’s death, he would still expect “relational difficulties there.”


“If there was a way to prove 100 percent that I had nothing to do with my wife’s death, there are still going to be people that would never give me a fair shake again, even if they could see it on a videotape,” Richardson said. “Because of this whole mess that they’ve gone through.”


Laceine Richardson said she and her siblings will continue to stand by their father.


“I love my dad, all three of us kids love and support him 100 percent and we’re going to be there for him throughout these next many years — however long it takes to get him out — we’ll be there,” she said. “We’re his rock right now. His family is his rock. It’s a good place to be and I enjoy knowing that we’re there to help him and he’s there to help us, even though there’s not much that we can do in the form of contact, just on a normal basis. We all have the realization that we can do as much as we can and we’re a strong family so we’ll get through it.”


Richardson’s mother Merideth said her son has taken up drawing as a pastime during the more than 400 days he’s spent in jail so far. He’s worked from other artist’s work and on his own.


“He made me a real nice heart for Mother’s Day,” she said.


Richardson’s dad David is looking for an appeal to undo his son’s conviction.


“Personally, I feel that the jury made a bad mistake. But that’s what they were picked to do and that’s what they said,” he said. “I think when it’s all over with I think that it’s going to be different than what it is. When the appeal court gets it, I think it’s going to turn around, I hope.”  


Defense attorneys Karl Numinen and Jason Elmore said they plan to file a motion with Alger County Circuit Court for a new trial. They will also appeal to state appellate courts to overturn the verdict.


Numinen said there are several issues that emerged during the court proceedings — through the discovery process, pretrial motions, trial and jury deliberations — which are “ripe for appeal.”


“At each procedural stage we’ve identified appellate issues, any one of which would be sufficient for a reversal,” Numinen said.


Elmore said the Richardson family is resolute, seeing the appellate process before them.


“The tragic death of Juanita is only coupled by the tragedy of Tom’s conviction and his sentence. It’s an impact that the family’s having a difficult time dealing with,” Elmore said. “But they remain steadfast in their support of Tom and their belief of Tom. And they understand, as we do, that again, this is not the end of a long road, it’s merely halftime.”