A teenager who fatally stabbed a classmate in the Montbello High School cafeteria was sentenced today to five years in the youth offender system despite pleas by the victim’s family that he should receive a longer sentence.
Marcus Richardson, 18, who was 16 when he stabbed Contrell Townsend three times on Jan. 4, 2005, was apologetic for his actions.
“I’d like to thank the jury for their time. I’m sorry,” Richardson said. “Everything I said during the trial was the truth. Everything I did is because I was afraid I’d be killed.”
Denver District Judge Morris Hoffman said that Richardson’s actions could not excused.
“Contrell Townsend is dead because Marcus Richardson killed him,” Hoffman said.
Even though he’s an adult, Richardson is being sentenced to a youth facility, the judge said, because there were not aggravating factors in the case.
“The sad thing is good people do really terrible things,” Hoffman said.
Richardson had been found guilty of reckless manslaughter instead of the more serious crime of second-degree murder.
During the trial, the jury heard students give dramatically different versions of who initiated the fight.
Many of the witnesses also said there were gang overtones to the entire incident, with both combatants wearing the colors of opposing street gangs.
Richardson was dressed in blue, the color of the Crips street gang, and Townsend, then 17, was wearing red and maroon, the color of the rival Bloods gang.
Richardson denied any gang affiliation. And prosecutors Tom Clinton and Adrienne Greene denied Townsend was a gang member.
Defense lawyers Walter Gerash and Craig Truman said Townsend, who suffered from a bipolar disorder, repeatedly confronted Richardson and attempted to start fights.
But other witnesses said it was Richardson who was confrontational.
One, student Quanisha Myles, testified that Richardson told her he used to be a Crip but had since dropped out.
Sedgrick Myles, a Townsend friend and classmate, testified that on two occasions that day, Richardson had tried to start fights with Townsend. He said the first was stopped by the school principal before it started near the school tennis courts. Minutes later, back in the school cafeteria, Richardson challenged Townsend a second time.
Many witnesses said that from the start of the fight, the larger Townsend easily manhandled the rail-thin Richardson.
