Earl Richmond
Posted on 05/06/2005 11:18:37 AM PDT by Borges
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The killer of two women and a pair of young children was executed by injection early Friday after failed attempts by lawyers to reduce his sentence to life in prison.
Earl Richmond Jr., 43, was pronounced dead at 2:19 a.m. at the state's Central Prison in Raleigh, said Pamela Walker, spokeswoman for the state Corrections Department.
Richmond spent Thursday meeting with family members and his lawyers, Walker said.
One of Richmond's attorneys, Jonathan Broun, said Richmond transformed himself in prison. Richmond had discovered religion and felt sorrow for his victims.
"The old Earl Richmond that did these crimes died many years ago," Broun said after the execution.
Richmond didn't profess his remorse for the crimes during recent appeals because he didn't want it to be seen as a false gesture, Broun said.
"I am a new man, not in the eyes of man, but in the eyes our creator," Richmond said in a handwritten statement distributed after his death. "I am free."
Richmond's legal team had urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the execution because they believed that improper testimony was allowed during his trial.
The court declined to hear the appeal Thursday evening, and Gov. Mike Easley later denied clemency for Richmond, allowing the execution to move forward.
Richmond was sentenced to death by a Cumberland County jury in 1995 for the killings of 27-year-old Helisa Stewart Hayes, her 8-year-old son, Phillip, and her 7-year-old daughter, Darien.
After his arrest in North Carolina, Richmond was charged in the April 5, 1991, slaying of Army Spec. Lisa Ann Nadeau at Fort Dix, N.J. Nadeau, 24, of Plainfield, Conn., was found bound, beaten, stabbed and strangled in her Army base residence.
Richmond is the second person executed in North Carolina this year and the 36th since capital punishment was reinstated in 1977.
to bad he couldn't have been tortured first....or given to the families of the deceast for the death of a thousand cuts.....
Seems only fair..
Let's raise a toast to the entirely appropriate killing of this brutal SOB. May he burn in hell.
Another worthless POS meets his Maker.
May God have mercy on his soul, for I have none for his life.
Details of Richmond's crimes:
Killer of four scheduled to die Friday
Richmond
By ANDREA WEIGL, Staff Writer
Earl Richmond Jr., 43, of Fayetteville has spent almost 10 years on death row. His execution is scheduled for 2 a.m. Friday.
CRIMES: In November 1991, the bodies of Helisa Stewart Hayes, 27; her son, Phillip, 8; and her daughter, Darien, 7, were found in the family's mobile home in Fayetteville. Hayes had been beaten, raped and strangled. Her son was stabbed at least 40 times with scissors and strangled with an electrical cord. Her daughter was strangled with the cord from a curling iron. Richmond was sentenced to death for their killings.
Richmond was also separately convicted of first-degree murder in the April 1991 killing of Army Spec. Lisa Ann Nadeau, 24, a payroll clerk at Fort Dix, N.J., where Richmond had worked as an Army drill sergeant. Nadeau was hogtied, stabbed, strangled and hit in the head with a hammer.
STATUS OF THE CASE: Richmond is awaiting word from Gov. Mike Easley about clemency and from the U.S. Supreme Court about a possible stay of execution.
LEGAL ISSUES
DEFENSE ARGUMENT: Prosecutors should not have been allowed to argue that Richmond should be executed because he presented a future danger to society. Richmond was already sentenced to life in prison without parole in Nadeau's killing and therefore would never live outside of prison. A federal appeals court ruled the judge erroneously allowed such an argument and failed to let the defense tell the jury that he was serving a life sentence without parole.
THE STATE RESPONSE: The same federal appeals court ruled the error was harmless.
DEFENSE ARGUMENT: Nadeau's father should not have been allowed to testify about his daughter's death during the sentencing phase of Richmond's trial, the defense says. Because Arthur Nadeau's testimony was based on what he heard at the earlier trial involving his daughter's death, it amounted to hearsay, they say. The testimony violated Richmond's constitutional right to confront a knowledgeable witness about Lisa Nadeau's death, the defense argued.
THE STATE RESPONSE: The defense doesn't claim that Arthur Nadeau's testimony was inaccurate. The jury heard worse about Nadeau's death from Richmond's own confession that was read during the sentencing phase. "Richmond's own much more detailed, remorseless, chilling words completely confirms everything Mr. Nadeau said," the state argues.
WITNESSES: Victims' family members: Tara Clark, Wayne Hayes and Teresa Nadeau; Cumberland District Attorney Edward W. Grannis Jr.; Cumberland District Court Judge John W. Dickson, a former prosecutor; and Cumberland Assistant District Attorney Calvin W. Colyer.
(News researcher Denise Jones contributed to this report.)
Staff writer Andrea Weigl can be reached at 829-4848 or aweigl@newsobserver.com.
News researcher Denise Jones contributed to this report
I'll second that. The world is a safer place without this serial killer around.
Anyone that kills a child should automatically be sentenced to death.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
It took a long time but justice finally came.
"The old Earl Richmond that did these crimes died many years ago."
It is quite unfortunate that "The old Earl..." didn't die before brutally murdering four innocent individuals; two women and two children.
If Earl was truly reborn, he is now with the Lord. Just because a criminal acknowledges his guilt, and converts as a person doesn't change the fact that those innocent individuals are dead. The punishment fit the crimes.
I would agree that anyone who murders a child should automatically be put to death.
Excellent summary.
Exactly.
Why the hell does it take 14 years to put a sick bastard like this to death?
Say hello to the devil and JFK Jr for us you worthless dirtbag. Note to all other punks: You're next!
You put JFK Jr in the same group with this guy?
Well, whaddya know about that. His victims died many years ago too. Now, today, Earl can join them and introduce the new Earl. I'm sure they'll be pleased that he's changed so much.
Mob boss: "Go ahead, shoot him."
Mob guy: "I don't like to shoot a guy when he's praying."
Mob boss: "If he's been good, then God will welcome him. If not, then it doesn't matter anyway."
The mob guy nods, then turns and shoots the man through the head.
Cool and good for Richmond, BUT... Dismas (aka: Desmas, The Good Thief) did the same thing and was forgiven but still died on his cross next to Jesus.
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