A fight in the Montbello High School cafeteria that left Contrell Townsend dead may have been the result of a gang initiation, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
Portions of a report written by R.A. Fuller, an investigator for the district attorney’s office, were made public Thursday during a hearing in which Senior District Judge Kenneth Plotz ordered medical records of Townsend unsealed. The records will be turned over to prosecutors and lawyers for Marcus Richardson, the student charged with second-degree murder in Townsend’s death.
In the report, Fuller says Montbello teacher Lynda Rawlins quoted one student as saying “the fight was a gang initiation – for Contrell Townsend – and the fight occurred in the cafeteria to have the largest audience.
“In addition, Ms. Rawlins’ 4th period class students told her that the fight between Marcus and Contrell was a gang initiation,” Fuller reported.
The incident occurred on Jan. 4, 2005. Richardson, then 16, told police he stabbed Townsend two or three times after Townsend, 17, repeatedly body-slammed him to the ground. Richardson said he’d never had problems with Townsend before, but apparently Townsend became angry after they accidentally bumped each other in a hallway minutes before the fight.
During a preliminary hearing last year, District Judge Michael Martinez heard conflicting testimony about whether Townsend or Richardson was the initial aggressor. Surveillance tapes didn’t contain the fight but showed Townsend coming into the lunchroom first. Moments later, the tape showed Richardson entering the lunchroom with several friends, headed to the area where Townsend had gone.
Defense attorneys Walter Gerash and Craig Truman had subpoenaed the medical records from Denver Public Schools and Denver Health Medical Center after reports from police and DA investigators quoted the records as showing that Townsend had serious mental problems.
Dr. Peter Mayerson, a clinical psychiatric professor at the University of Colorado, examined those reports for Richardson’s defense, and reported that school officials and mental health professionals said he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and possibly schizophrenia.
He also said that Townsend was prescribed a medication used to treat bipolar disorder and later switched to an anti-psychotic medication that is used to treat both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Mayerson said Townsend’s psychosis could potentially cause Townsend to “become irrationally out of control.”
He wrote that “adolescents with bipolar disorder are often prized street gang members because of their proclivity to irrational, wild, manic behavior.
“According to Fuller’s memo … Contrell Townsend allegedly assaulted Marcus Richardson as part of a gang initiation ceremony.”
A hearing will be held May 2 to determine whether Townsend’s mental health records will be admitted at Richardson’s trial.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
