User Panel
Posted: 1/4/2006 8:40:22 AM EDT
OK - last one.
This one is about a relative of an acquaintance of mine. His story has impacted my life in so many ways I won't bother to list them here. His name is Richard Keech. Richard is an 82 year old man. This is Richard and his family. This was Richard back in the day. This guy is a former Marine, a WWII vet and a former Japanese POW. If I recall correctly, Richard is also a Bataan Death March survivor. Many of Richard's current ailments are a result of his mistreatment at the hands of the Japanese while he was held as a POW. Do you think that is the worst thing he would possibly have to endure in his life? Read for yourself............then decide. www.richard-keech.org/modules/news/
That's right. Richard bought a gun with the sole purpose of protecting his daughter. Richard decided to intervene one night when his daughter was being abused, right in front of him. He was confronted by his daughters husband, who threatened him to stay out of it. Keep in mind, at this point, Richard was a 70 some odd year old man, debilitated by injuries he suffered as a POW. Richard chose to protect his daughter and, by doing so, sacrificed himself. Richard has spent that last few years locked up in tha California prison system. He is, after all, a criminal who committed a haneous crime. He is not with his wife of more than 50+ years, who visits him every chance they are allowed. He has no regrets. If you write Richard, he will write you back. Richard Keech K86028 Pleasant Valley State Prison C3-121L PO Box 8503 Coalinga, CA 93210 |
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Good for him! How many years did he get? I assume that it was Murder One they got him on because it was premeditated. Hopefully he is being well cared for.
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He was given 35 years at age 70+. He knew it meant the rest of his natural life. He knew what it would cost him.......but he also knew what it would save others......and he chose. He was originally sent to maximum security prison as part of the general population. He has since been moved to a lower security facility. Read the website. He shares many of his stories, including those of being a POW. They are sadly incredible to think of what he and so many others endured. Here is just one example:
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damn....
If this is a free country why in the hell is that man in prison. Words fail. |
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There is a petition for his release so that he may die at home with his family, including his wife of 50+ years. harrisonheritage.com/adbc/keech.htm |
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While I agree that some people just need killing, murder is murder, plain and simple and nothing can be done to excuse it. There were other choices besides A) do nothing or B) kill the bastard.
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Tag cause my printer is out of paper and I cant print the petition right now.
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You must have missed the part where he states: "I had a choice, and this is the road I picked." and At a critical fork in the road of life, a short time back, fate gave me a chance to choose which of two paths I wanted to follow. It was a fair offer. Fate even let me look ahead a bit to see where each one led. (I have always found "Fate" to be fair in its dealings with me.) and That peek into the future made the decision easy. Down one road I saw nothing but tragedy, death and shame. Down the other I saw life and freedom for my family and honor for myself. Thats the road I picked. Thats the road I am on now. and, lastly So, don't waste tears on me, dear friends. Life has been good to me. I have no regrets. I shall pray that each of you at 82 can look back and say the same. |
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And you say this as a father yes? |
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Sad situation. But what the fuck's wrong with his daughter??? Was she abused as a kid to want to keep going back for more as an adult?? |
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Like what? Be specific. The police can only pick up the pieces. They are not there to prevent but to find the guilty party and gather evidence after the fact. |
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Yeah like let his daughter be killed, right? |
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For the doubting Thomas' out there, please read the entry "YOU HAVE TO PLAY THE HAND THAT WAS DEALT YOU" found HERE
You will also see that there was a grandchild involved. And, appearently, 9mm works well on cocky Brits. I don't know about Zombies, but the record shows they do fine on others. |
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So if the guy threatened him and others with a knife why was it not self defense?
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I really hope his daughter learned her lesson and got some psychiatric help. If she goes back to a
Agreed though: While I respect what the old man did- and salute his sacrifices for the country- he took the law into his own hands. There had to be options other than simply killing the guy. Though why did he get such a sentence if the abuser was abusing her right in front of him- and then threatened to turned the knife on the old man? That said, the idiot abuser needed to die. I just think it should have been by law. Aren't there laws about this kind of thing? Had this guy brainwashed his daughter? It's not black and white unfortunately. I'm kind of conflicted on this one. |
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I wonder if anyone thought about wisking the daughter away and never going back? If this was tried, then the father had no other recourse and I applaud him for what he did.
He absolutely did the honorable thing. |
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As a father of two daughters, this really hits home.
I have so much respect for this man. |
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I went to the web site and couldnt find any info on WHY his daughter married and then STAYED with someone who abused her OVER and OVER again. Did I miss it or is it just not there? |
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Hmmm, I wonder what you would have done had it been your daughter being treated like this.... Its easy to say about someone else, just hope you'll never be in his shoes.... |
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Welcome to California. |
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Richard should be telling a different story and should have a better lawyer.
The story should go something like: I was at my daughter house. My SIL became abusive to me and my daughter. I tried to call the police but he would let me. I shot my SIL after he pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and my daughter. I didn't want to shot him. I never planned to shot him. |
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I take my hat off to him out of respect for his dedication to protect his daughter (I just had a baby girl in Sept 05), but I would think a man of his intellect and experience would try to exhaust all possible options to protect his daughter, including packing her up one night when hubby the Sadist was out, and moving her to a new state. Preferably one very far away from her abuser. Or, what about well-hidden video camera in the daughter's home? it just seems he thought all along the only way to protect her was to kill the bastard (possibly the truth). The other thing I want to know is, what the hell was the daughter thinking not leaving his ass after the 50th beating? There seems to be no personal responsibility of the wife to safegaurd herself from harm. She just continues to endure it. That dumbfounds me. I guess some people believe the beatings are earned, or deserved, not to just pack up and leave. Just a sad story all around.
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There were other options. Murder, however, is easier. That's why he is in prison.
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Yep. His problem wasn't that he premeditated the murder, it was that he DIDN'T premeditate a way to not go to jail for it. |
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I guess that's it. He wanted to extract a little blood for how he was treating his daughter. She wasn't going to do anything about it, so he did. Heck. Prisons these days are probably a cake walk for him. Bataan Death March? Japanese prison camp? |
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Like what? Politely ask her husband to stop being a sick fuck? |
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Maybe he figured the honorable thing was to tell...the truth. |
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Was she into the sadism? She might have liked it for all we know. It's not black and white. |
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I want to support him 100%...............but, what is the "rest of the story"? How could of a jury convicted this man under these circumstances? How about the self-defense aspect of it? I wish the website offered more details of the trial.
If this story is true as it appears to be.............how can this man be in prison? It's shameful. |
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To quote the father from Bonfire of the Vanities..."If the truth won't set you free then...lie." There's nothing honorable about rotting in prison when you don't have to. |
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Your character is revealed, Rik. |
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I googled his name and found an NYT story link. Supposedly he shot the guy in the side, then followed him and shot him four more times. That's probably why they convicted him.
query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9903E2DC1F30F93BA3575AC0A961958260&n=Top%2fNews%2fHealth%2fDiseases%2c%20Conditions%2c%20and%20Health%20Topics%2fPost%20Traumatic%20Stress%20Disorder]Link Edited to add link. [shrank 1200 foot long URL code - Paul] |
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+1 |
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Well, the dude liked pain... I suppose the old timer was giving it to him. |
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What he did wasn't murder, and I don't give a fuck WHAT the state of Commiefornia says. He protected both his daughter's life and when confronting the sick fuck, who promptly threatened his life with a knife, he ended the threat.
Good. My only beef with him was he didn't piss in the still smoking bullet holes. He ought to get a medal, and some ought to get a fucking clue. SG |
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Wow. It's hard to really judge such a situation with so little information.
I will say that I don't think it's possible to deal with this sort of problem using the law in any State with a remotely fair legal system. If we change it around so anyone suspected of wife-beating gets totally reamed, then what happens to the normal guys in nasty divorces (some of whom have posted here) whose wives accuse them of everything under the sun? But then, the State was never meant to solve all problems. What suprises me is that he seems to have accepted from the start that he would go to prison for this. Why should such a man as this have no hope to avoid prison when so many dirtbags get away clean with murder? If he had simply said nothing more then that the guy was threatening his life and he acted in self-defense, wouldn't he be a free man? He doesn't even have to tell a single lie. Not to mention the old Shoot, Shovel, Shutup plan, in which the police might never find anything at all. |
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+1? |
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I definitely sympathize with the guy. Judging by the prosecutor's comments, this case was not about whether or not the gentleman's actions were right or wrong, but the fact that he took the law into his own hands. |
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As a juror in that case I probably would've wound up hanging the jury. There is no way that I would convict a man of doing what he did.
And for those of you who think that the jury is merely the triar of fact, that isn't entirely true. The jury has the right to ignore any law that they see as wrong when trying a case (just don't say that if you actually want to get on a jury, prosecutors and judges don't like that a whole lot). |
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Hmm in Texas I'm not sure this man would be in prison. We do have the so called "he needed killing" defense which could let someone convicted of murder off with probabtion.
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Oh what the fuck EVER. If you want to be honest to the point of spending the rest of your life in prison needlessly, more power to you. |
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This is in the his own words, he doesnt say anything about a knife.
He knew what would happen when he decided to kill the guy. If you play you pay. |
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We aren't talking about an ordinary person with whom you might have a normal, honorable relationship. This is the State. They're not looking to do justice, they're looking to throw you in prison, or worse. Do you think they hesitate for a second before lying to you? Part of the reason why we have these rights is so that we can overthrow the government if it becomes necessary. But now we shouldn't lie to them? I don't consider myself under any obligation to tell the truth to Government agents. |
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Hell of a story.
No I shed no tear for this man for he did indeed do the crime and got the time and he knew it. I do thank God for "There for the sake of God go I." Tj |
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it takes two to tango......
his daughter chose that life.. while i feel for him, i would have handled it differently, of course i don't have all of the facts |
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Sounds like a good shoot to me.
Hell of a father. Semper Fi, Sir. |
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Should have kept all of those thoughts to himself. He pulls a knife, you shoot, self-defense.
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I wish I could be on a jury in a case like this. He would walk if I had to stay in deliberation untill hell freazes over. How in the FUCK did a jury convict him. I forgot, its Kalifornia. They let the OJ go and Baretta but they convict this guy??? I wish Kali would decare independance and we would be a better off nation.
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