After deliberating for an hour and 15 minutes today, jurors found Charles David Richardson guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting of Trae Allen in Richardson’s Columbia townhouse in May 2007.

Richardson, 25, will be sentenced Dec. 4 and faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge, said Wayne Kirwan, a state’s attorney’s office spokesman.

Richardson is also charged with first-degree murder in the death of Alevtina Zhilina, 40, who was shot and killed April 26 while working at the 7-Eleven on Columbia Road, directly across the street from the townhouse complex where Richardson lived.

Richardson’s trial in Zhilina’s death is scheduled to begin Oct. 14.

In closing arguments, Assistant State’s Attorney Kim Oldham said that hours before Richardson shot Allen, Richardson told someone, “I’m going to catch a body today.”

The meaning was clear: Richardson meant to kill someone that day and Allen turned out to be the unlucky victim, Oldham said.

“These were the intentional words of a cold-blooded killer,” Oldham said.

Richardson was found guilty of all three counts against him: first-degree murder, assault in the first degree and using a handgun in the commission of a violent crime.
 
In a case where the defense conceded Richardson shot Allen to death, the question of whether there was premeditation -- and should therefore be a first- or second-degree murder case -- was the main one facing jurors.

An aspiring rapper, Allen, 19, of Atlanta, returned to his hometown of Columbia on the weekend of May 20, 2007 to visit family, Oldham said.

He was friends with Richardson’s brother and was hanging out in Richardson’s Brook Way townhouse with several other people when Richardson began an argument with him about whether Allen would be willing to kill for him, Oldham said.

“Mr. Allen said, ‘I wouldn't just kill for no reason. If somebody was trying to kill you then I would,’” testified Joseph Beard, who described himself as Allen’s best friend and was present when the shooting occurred.

Richardson pulled out a gun, pointed it close to Allen’s head and shot him in the left eye, Oldham said. The other people in the house fled, but not before seeing Allen stumble out of the room with Richardson following him, still armed with the gun.

If the first shot was not premeditated, then the next three clearly were, including the final shot to the back of Allen’s head, said Oldham.

“Premeditation is all over this murder,” she said.

At one point during closing arguments, Oldham pulled out a board listing seven “lies” Richardson had told police. She also laid out the steps he took to try to conceal the crime, enlisting a friend to dispose of the gun and dousing himself in bleach to try to remove incriminating gunpowder residue or blood traces, she said.

Defense attorney Mark Van Bavel said the evidence clearly showed Richardson shot Allen, but he said it was a case of second-degree murder, not first-degree, as prosecutors claimed. He described the crime as an “impulsive, foolish, ridiculous act” fueled by alcohol and drugs.

Richardson’s statement of “catching a body” was idle boasting, not a sign of real intent, he said. He noted that while Richardson was clearly involved with drugs, he also held a steady job at Toby’s Dinner Theatre, showing he was “tugged in different directions” in his life.

Kirwan declined to comment on the verdict, citing the open pending case against Richardson. Van Bavel also declined to comment for the same reason.

Staff reporter Mike Santa Rita contributed to this story.

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