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Man who hit girl with paintball gets jail

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By the Lincoln Journal Star

Friday, Sep 21, 2007 - 03:13:15 pm CDT

An Omaha man who shot a 3-year-old girl with a paintball as she played in her front yard has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Earl Richardson III, 24, had been riding around Lincoln on March 23 in the back of a friend’s Lincoln Town Car, “casually shooting a paintball gun at anything or anybody that caught his particular attention,” Judge Gale Pokorny wrote in Richardson’s sentencing order Friday.

Pokorny said during the afternoon and early evening of March 23, Richardson struck a number of cars and buildings, as well as a little girl.

Story Photo

“She was hit so hard in the back that she knocked to the ground screaming in pain,” he wrote.

Police took a picture of a two-inch welt on the girl’s back.

On Friday, Pokorny sentenced Richardson to 90 days on each of two criminal mischief charges. He had pleaded no contest to the charges.

Richardson has a four-page rap sheet, that includes 17 criminal charges involving violence.

“Mr. Richardson needs to know where mindless, gratuitous violence will take him,” Pokorny’s order said.


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Sick wrote on September 21, 2007 3:22 pm:
" What is wrong with this person? I am happy he is locked up. "
APE wrote on September 21, 2007 3:31 pm:
" criminal mischief? 6 months in jail? how about assault and some prison time? "
JP wrote on September 21, 2007 3:52 pm:
" AMEN He is lucky he did not get more time!!! "
Good! wrote on September 21, 2007 4:04 pm:
" Anyone who would target an innocent 3 year old deserves every day he got in jail - maybe more! Kudos to Judge Pokorny! "
Smooove B wrote on September 21, 2007 4:21 pm:
" What a tough, manly dude Mr. Richardson is. "
Disturbed wrote on September 21, 2007 4:35 pm:
" That poor little girl. You know, you'd expect this kind of mindless activity more from a 16 yr old, not a 24 yr old! He apparently has no life if he's got nothing better to do at 24 than ride around vandalizing things. He must not have anything nice of his own, and that's why he doesn't care if he ruins other peoples things. What a loser. I hope the girl is alright. "
disturbed wrote on September 21, 2007 4:37 pm:
" A four page rap sheet and all they can come up with is criminal mischief!!! RIDICULOUS!!! How about assault with a weapon, discharging a firearm in city limits. And yes, Lincoln's law is anything that shoots a projectile is a firearm. Hit him with a felony sentence him to the maximum. Actually try to punish him. It's a matter of time before vigilante justice starts becoming more common "
Proud Mom wrote on September 21, 2007 4:41 pm:
" This guy is 24 years old. He should be old enough to know better than to drive around shooting a paintball gun at anything and everything. I sure hope that precious little girl is ok. I am happy to see he is sentenced to jail, but is 6 months long enough for this little girl. She could have multiple problems when she gets older with back pain. I would be suing for more than just jail time, how about future medical treatment. That could have killed that little girl! Some people just need to GROW UP!!! "
Steve wrote on September 21, 2007 4:49 pm:
" It took 17 violent criminal acts for a judge to figure out that the guy should go to jail? He isn't old enough to have served all the time he should already have been sentenced to, so what's he doing out in society? "
Nina wrote on September 21, 2007 4:53 pm:
" Somehow I don't think a guy with that many violent convictions will be deterred by only 6 months in jail. Picking on a toddler - shameful. I would add to his sentence for him to be the target for a dunking tank game...in the dead of winter. And if the fast balls hit him instead of the bullseye, oh well. "
Instead wrote on September 21, 2007 4:58 pm:
" Should let the little girl shoot him with a taser about 10 times. What a loser. "
Turn about wrote on September 21, 2007 5:23 pm:
" What a slap on the wrist, how about turning MR. stupidhead over to the family of the little girl?? "
dj wrote on September 21, 2007 5:53 pm:
" He got off EASY! I think he needs to be used for target practice for the duration of his sentence. I thought my children never to point a TOY gun at people. "
not enough wrote on September 21, 2007 6:45 pm:
" 6 months is a good start, but not enough for an irresponsible jerk who thinks he can do whatever he wants. Maybe a year would have sent a stronger message to all the punks out there who think vandalism and hurting others makes them cool. "
pam wrote on September 21, 2007 8:38 pm:
" did anyone notice he had a rap sheet that was pages long? i dont understand why , with his background, and seeing his name in the records almost weekly, he got off so easy. "
... wrote on September 21, 2007 9:02 pm:
" Probably only got 6 months cause thats the max for a Class I misdemeanor "
Dropped charges wrote on September 21, 2007 9:47 pm:
" He was originally charged with 3rd Degree Assault, but they seem to have dismissed that as part of some plea bargain agreement. It's a terrible mistake for prosecutors to toss felony charges on violent repeat offenders, because those guys need a felony conviction on their record in order to really smash them next time they mess up. "
Dad wrote on September 21, 2007 11:16 pm:
" If the paintball had hit her at the base of her skull we might have been talking about murder or manslaughter at least. With a 4 page rap sheet this trash should be doing some serious time. "
Trisha Womack wrote on September 22, 2007 4:28 am:
" What about his friend that he was riding around with? Why didn't he also get any charges? 24yr old being a 2yr old sounds like this person really needs the book thrown at him. Hope the little girl is okay. I know them paintballs hurt like a sob. "
Doc wrote on September 22, 2007 4:55 am:
" FRIEND'S Car. Did you miss something here posters? Where is the sentence for the friend that was also involved? Riding around shooting anything that moved during a lengthy period of time, required help from the driver of the Town Car. And we are sure that Earl the first and Earl the second are proud of their spawn. "
Bill wrote on September 22, 2007 8:00 am:
" My sentence suggestion is 5-10 years in jail with probation...500 hours of court ordered community service. Also does the parents of this child have a excellent case for a civil suit. They should ask Ernie to be their legal counsel. He don't do the community service...and other arrest in 30 years he goes to jail...by the way no mention of the driver. Why isn't he locked up as well? What in the world is keeping these judges from putting the hammer down on these types of troublemakers. "
Bill wrote on September 22, 2007 8:48 am:
" My sentence suggestion is 5-10 years in jail with probation...500 hours of court ordered community service. Does the parents of this child have a excellent case for a civil suit. They should ask Ernie to be their legal counsel. He don't do the community service...and other arrest in 30 years he goes to jail...by the way no mention of the driver. Why isn't he locked up as well? What in the world is keeping these judges from putting the hammer down on these types of troublemakers. "
Wait a minute wrote on September 22, 2007 9:28 am:
" Richardson needs more than 90 days!!!! Wouldn't hurt to give the judge the same sentenance. What about the guy driving the car??? He's just a guilty for letting the guy shoot the paintballs. Little wonder theres so much crime, there's not competent judges doing their job!!!! "
john wrote on September 22, 2007 10:48 pm:
" A pastime of mine is reading old newspapers from nicrofilm. By doing this I see the evolution of the Criminal justice system evolve from a well thought of crime deterent to a milque-toast rehab-the-jerk system we have today. No felony crime should be pled down to a lesser charge simply to make the prosecutor's job easier. If the prosecutors don't want to accept the job they are paid to do perhaps they should look for another line of work more to their liking. "

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