(Sidebar)For the past few months, APD Sergeant Paul Heh (yes that sergeant) has been gathering signatures on a petition requesting that Richard's sentence be reduced. He's scheduled a news conference for Thursday morning where he plans to present the signature to Wade Harless - Richard's father-in-law. Mr. Harless wrote us a letter shortly after our first post giving us more information about the events leading up to the shooting and the behind the scenes reasons behind the plea bargain (read it here).
A note to anyone with felonious aspirations, DO NOT EVER attempt to rob a determined Marine. These guys voluntarily entered a branch of the military that prides itself on being the first into a hostile military situation. Your guns, knives, and gang BS aren't a match for a Marine's training, determination, and honor.
(End Sidebar)
Our Eyes tell us that Sergeant Heh's news conference will be held at the St. Java Coffee Shop, 801 4th Street, NW at 8:00 am. We also understand that he and Wade Harless will make a radio "appearance" on the Jim Villanucci Show Friday afternoon.
We think that the decision not to take this thing to trial was a bad one in the first place. But according to Mr. Harless, Richard's no contest plea was in exchange for a promise that he wouldn't spend time away from his wife and child. We understand the motivation and the desire to be with his family but trusting the criminal justice system (and the DA) to administer justice is naive at best. The system is designed to pick the low hanging fruit not reward those with integrity and honor for their sacrifice.
----- Correction -----
The original post indicated that Wade Harless and APD Sergeant Paul Heh would be on the 770 KKOB's Jim Villanucci Show Thursday afternoon. That information was incorrect. We have confirmed that the two of them will appear (yes we know it's radio) Friday afternoon at 4pm. The timing may make the show even more interesting as Mr. Harless will no doubt have information about the Friday morning hearing.
22 comments:
I'm curious as to why you're so upset about Mr. Richard potentially serving time for what could most charitably be called manslaughter (he chased him for more than a mile before shooting him, it was completely unnecessary.) Yet you don't seem concerned about all the perpetrators of 100% victim-less crimes (such as Marijuana possession) that our justice system condemns to prison every day of the week. Why is that?
How severe an attempted crime warrants vigilante execution? Its clear that you believe B&E does. Does shoplifting? Jaywalking? Police Brutality? Speeding? Littering? Red Light camera violations? Public intoxication? Vigilantism? Off-leash dogs?
Ok, so let's review: Marines are bad-ass, Mr. Richard was defending his home, this case should never have gone to trial, the drug-addict gang banger was scum and needed "killing", coulda shoulda woulda....everyone can jump up on their soap box and cry foul, but in the end, laws were broken. One law-breaker is dead, and the other law breaker was found guilty of it.
Very good, we are in the early steps of possible setting some new case law on the use of deadly force. Yippie, bad guys beware, in a few years everyone, including Law Enforcement, will be allowed to shoot bad guys in the back. Maybe all we need is a 4 degree felony to get it all rolling. Bad guys of NM need to relocate.
There are none so blind, as those who will not see.
Richard did not chase him half a mile to shoot him. He could have shot him any time he wanted; and saved a lot of wear and tear on his bare feet.
He chased him for half a mile to apprehend him; I say again, to apprehend him.
At the end of the chase, the bad guy chose to make a move on Richard that left him no choice but to shoot him.
If he had not shot him, if he had been able to apprehend him; we would be celebrating him as a hero.
The bad guy was not murdered; he made a decision that cost him his life.
And good riddance.
And just in case, you still don't get it; he chased him half a mile to apprehend him and hold him for police; so that he wouldn't get away and break into YOUR house the following night.
He chased him half a mile, so that he couldn't escape and then make good on his threat to get even with Richard by means of hurting his wife and child.
Richard is an honest to God hero; he showed the balls to stand up for right instead of hiding under his bed.
Albuquerque could use a lot more of him, and a lot fewer bad guys, and lot fewer bleeding hearts that think the bad guys should be allowed to run away without interference.
The guy never received law enforcement training, it was nuke DOE training big difference. If he did he would have realized that even cops can't chase down an unarmed person and then shoot him.
Does it suck well sure it does, does it give him a right to hunt a scumbag down? No. Half this city would be targets then.
I hope Judge Murdoch sticks to his guns and goes doesn't change the light sentence this guy already got.
Trust me, you do not want a vigiliantism running wild. That's why we have a court system. Even though it's not a perfect system, it's the best system in the world.
Paul Heh sure has a lot of time on his hands for someone who makes 120000 a year.....now that he is Johnnie Cochran and is defending a guilty felon maybe he can cash in on that too
well let's see, if I had a choice I suppose I'd rather have the over protective Marine as a neighbor and NOT the 'the law says I should get off scot free criminal'! If that situation went down where I live, I would be right behind the Marine with a baseball bat, just so he knew that all his bases were covered.
I think I would be concerned that the "thief" would return to do my family harm as well ..... The police department would probably be too busy with other criminals (using a cell phones while driving, seat belt safety, playing music too loud, etc) then to respond to a "revenge" type call in a timely fashion
All good comments above, but I'm not certain richards military record has been verified. We do know he was in the marines for 4 years, and I'm not sure who gave him the title of being decorated. My brother is in the marines, loves it, and has been there longer than 4 yrs.
Vigiliantism is about the only way we can protect ourselves these days. Marty has most the cops posted downtown pushing the criminals to the suburbs.
I always have my gun on me just to work in my front yard. If someone did to me what Romero did to Richard I'd shoot him also. No one is going to threaten my wife and kids. If Richard hadn't done what he did, either his family or someone elses would have been dead by now. Romero was a scumbag, drug addict, gangsta. Oh yeah and suppose to be such a good family man.
To the posters against reducing Richards sentence, you are obviously Romero's family members.
The justice system flat out screwed Richard, he was lied to.
This is a good example of he should have taken his chances at trial.
Murdoch's excuse that he did not show remorse is rather silly. Does this judge believe all the elephant tears that are cried in his courtroom? If he does he needs to take a step into reality. People cry in court because they are told to by their attorneys. As soon as they leave the tears dry up and they could care less about their victims.
I sincerely hope that sgt heh believed that richard acted within any Police policy. If he does believe it, I hope the sgt never practices it because he will probably be indicted and I really do likle him.
Paul Heh says he doesn't represent APD when he's condoning what this guy did.The thing is..he DOES represent APD! When you're a police officer, you are sworn to uphold the law whether you agree with the law or not. I agree that the guy that got killed was a criminal, but you don't murder someone over a car.
I truly respect and support Judge Murdoch, hang in there Sir.
Jealous?
Ok liberals, that is the problem with our society as a whole. I had to laugh at the out pouring of support for the thief who was killed by Richard. Let's think about this for a moment. The liberals feel that when someone breaks into your car, it is because of a failed Govt. system and that the person is only trying to survive. The Liberal is also never been a victim of serious crime nor has anyone in their family. So, for you Liberals who have never really done anything but bash the country you live in, let me explain from a view point of someone who deals with the criminal element everyday.
When Richard confronted the Thief, I am sure the his adrenaline went from 0-60 in .1 second flat. That is when his training kicked in. Law Enforcement Training? No, but his time in the Marines. Marines are taught to confront the conflict head on and resolve it quickly. Richard tried to take the Thief into custody but he ran. Richard gave chase (as an off duty Police Officer, Marine or Law abiding non-liberal whos' car was being broken into would have done.) Neighbors who gave statements said they heard Richard telling the thief to get on the ground and tried several times to take him to the ground. The thief continued to try and flee, his co-conspirator even stated that when he called his theif friend, he could hear Richard telling him to get on the ground. His friend who had a visual of some of the action then drove away from the original scene. The thief told Richard he had friends and they were coming to help. At this time they are 1/4 a mile from the original scene and Richard shoots him after all other efforts failed and Richard said there was a vehicle behind him when he did this. Could this vehicle have been the thiefs friend who was going to flank Richard? Or was it someone who saw what was going on and slowed down to watch? We will never know because that vehicle did not stay at the scene. ( My guess is that it was the thiefs friend and they had other stolen property in their vehicle that they did not want APD to find out about.) Then Richard stayed at the scene and flagged down a passing APD officer. HE DID NOT ATTEMPT TO COVER UP ANYTHING!!!
So your big problem with the story is that he shot him 1/4 a mile from the scene. I have been in many foot chases and after taking the subject into custody turned around only to realize we ran 1/4 mile and sometimes over a mile without realizing it. I have also been in many altercations where I have been hurt or the offender has been hurt. In all these cases, ALL THE ACTIONS WERE DICTATED BY THE OFFENDER. We react to what the offenders do, as did Richard.
So if you want to point the blame, blame the thief who should have been home with his family instead of stealing from hard working people to pay off his drug debt. The liberal mind set will try to explain that the thief was only a product of his environment, I can tell you that there is no such thing. People are a product of their decisions. For every one person who lives in poverty and decides to go to the dark side, there are a dozen more that become productive members of society. They may "just survive" but you will never see them on the 6:00 news or feel the anonymous effect of waking up only to find someone had ripped you off. And it does not just extend to people in poverty, look at the number of people who had every chance in the world, but decided to do a life of crime.
If you really want to get a feel for "REAL LIFE" you should do a ride along with your local PD or Sheriff dept. Do it on the West side, South East or the South Valley so you can get a feel for what really goes on when your not in your protective bubble. Then maybe you will thank Richard for saving you money for that broken window, missing car stereo and higher insurance rates. Then maybe you will see that the THIEF dictated all the actions that night.
I would also like to point out that Judge Murdoch, whom I respect greatly, said that he felt Richard showed a lack of remorse. Judge Murdoch should have kept in mind that Richard was not a career criminal who has learned through trial and error what to say to pull the heart strings of a judge getting ready to impose a prison sentence. And to Richard, God Bless You and please finish out your probation and stay out of trouble, you have a lot of people backing you and it would be a slap in our face if you messed it up.
Viking
You might want to read Tennessee vs Garner and then check your New Mexico Penal Law or whatever they call it down there. IF a PO can't shoot an unarmed fleeing perp for a property crime, a civilian certainly can't.
Very similar circumstances. Perp fleeing over a fence and about to escape and gets capped. Anything else you or others try to bring into this case is superfluous and meaningless.
Eye is right in that Richards probably should have taken a shot with a jury trial. Good chance he gets the sympathy vote.
That said, I'm not shedding any tears for Romero and I hope the family get shut out in the civil case.
PS. Be careful out there. Don't get yorself jammed up.
If indeed most of these pro-vigilante posts are by the cops that read this site we finally have an explanation for why APD is so ineffective: extremely low intelligence.
Since you're all for vigilante executions feel free to provide us with your personal details so we can follow you around and execute you and/or your family members whenever you/they break a law. Excuse me sir, I saw you make a rolling stop at that last intersection any last words? I'll make sure to call waste disposal to clean up the mess afterward, don't want anyone executing me for littering.
Man what a great country this would be if we all killed each other every time we saw someone else breaking a law. Hey Officer Chavez, I saw you talking on your cell phone while driving yesterday, would you like a cigarette and a blindfold?
I am familiar with Tenn. Vs. Garner and what rights fleeing felons do have. The problem in this case is that Romero was not out and out running when he was shot, He stopped many times and even took swings at Richard. Tenn. Vs, Garner was the result of someone being shot in the back. We can argue all day but the end result remains the same. A property owner who felt he was doing the right thing and continued to try and do the right thing until he felt there was no other choice. We all have our own opinions and I do respect your opinion but I am biased towards my own. I have been dealing with criminals for over a dozen years and have learned more about the human frame of mind than I ever thought I would. On the way to jail, criminals pled their innocence even after being caught red handed. They make statements like, " Only God can judge me. " or try to pull the heart strings as to why I should not be taking them to jail, such as their kids or their mom is sick. I have problems too, but I don't create problems for other people when my gas bill was to high. I work extra shifts to make the money to pay that bill. Before I was in Law enforcement I worked 3 jobs at one time to make ends meet. And if the criminal was so concerned about their kids or their mom, they should have been home taking care of them instead of breaking the law.
If you like to follow case law, check up on some of the case law coming out of the 9th circuit. We have people who are trying to interpret what our founding fathers meant when they wrote the Constitution over 200 years ago. We are trying to apply writing that was aimed towards the oppression from British rule. For example, the 4th Amendment was established because British Soldiers would occupy any house they chose too when in need or shake down citizens and take items of value for their own purpose at any given time. I am sure at no point in time did they ever dream of a passengers right to be questioned on a traffic stop as being an issue.
The separation of Church and State was because of the Churchs influence in Government decisions. ie; the Churches leaders directly influencing the King or Queen and the choices they make. I do not think they intended for prayer in school or a monument of the Ten Commandments to ever be an issue, especially in a nation founded on Christianity. Freedom of expression and religion should give you the right to not participate in the Pledge of Allegiance or prayer in school, but it does not give you the right to take it away from those who it actually has some meaning.
But in a polite world where people are afraid to offend someone else, we give away our own rights in an effort to appease those who are being vocal about how they feel. I am now the vocal one and want some of the rights others have given up back. I am not willing to let my Country fall down because I choose to give in to someone with a different belief than myself. You do your thing and I will do mine. I can learn from you as you can learn from me. But you should take that knowledge and use it to become a stronger person, not use it to bring someone down. My point being is that this won't be the last hot issue we disagree on, but I truly think Richard was not willing to give up any more of his rights, the rights that Romero was trying to take. I think that more people are starting to wake up and realize they are not willing to give up any more of their rights as well. Take it for what it's worth but you can only let things slide so far before people start fighting back.
To everyone posting above, have you read the entire Richard case? I do understand that only a few people have access to the entire case, including criminalistics reports, but after you read it, I mean really read it, then post your opinion. I am pretty positive Sgt Heh has not read the report and should have before he staryted his petition. Its very easy to give your opinion from media reports but read the entire report before you post your opinion.
Don't need to read no stinking report or details. Taking scum off our streets is all the citizens care about, no matter the details.
If it looks loke a duck, it is a duck. SHOOT IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The End
amen
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