Medicine Hat Media

Posts Tagged ‘Trial’

It has been a while since we have posted about Fritzke’s case. Since the last post, court dates have occurred and new information has been released to the public about his charges of sexual assault and accessing and distributing child pornography.

When I first posted about Fritzke I raised the issue that we didn’t have all the information and that he was not yet proven guilty at the time for either of his charges. It took a while, but his second charge which was the sexual assault was dismissed; however, in my opinion, he is still guilty of the act itself. For those who are interested, there is a sad and detailed description of what he allegedly did in the Medicine Hat News. Yes, the victim gave consent, but at her age (fourteen at the time) combined with his age and stature, it was still wrong, I think. This type of incident probably influenced the legal change of the age of sexual consent from fourteen to sixteen years old (Parliament, 2008); however, the law that was in place at the time of the incident was used instead of the recently changed version of the law. This meant that since the victim was fourteen at the time she legally could have given consent.

We aren’t privy to much information about his first charge (of accessing and distributing child pornography), but I doubt he will be the victor in that case.

Vice-principal’s sex assault charge dismissed by Alex McCuaig

Trial begins for Gregory Fritzke by Alex McCuaig


The story has changed somewhat since our original Gregory Fritzke post. Tuesday, police charged Gregory Fritzke, 43, ex-vice-principle from Ross Glenn School with two more charges: Sexual Assault and Sexual Exploitation to go on top of his original charge of Accessing and Distributing Child Pornography. The alleged assault is believed to have taken place in 2004 against a young girl at Alexandra Junior High School where Fritzke was vice-principle.

This is hard because on one side I hope this charge isn’t made up because it would just be one of those exploitation of the accused cases, but at the same time I hope it is made up because it’s really sick and terrible. Would people rather want this be true and have a tortured child or would they hope and pray that it’s made up to exploit the Fritzke case. What do you think?

To many, this simply reinforced their original beliefs and speculations; however, I am still cautious with saying he is not guilty of anything yet. He is due for court appearance on February 12th (tomorrow). Only after he is defined by law as guilty or innocent will I respectively call him either or – this isn’t the middle ages anymore (ordeal by fire/water).

We have will have more information after (and possibly during) the trial.

Original Post:

To the Gallows, Gregory Fritzke!

Angry comments below (sarcsm):


A fairly complete and concise history of the Richardson Family Murders and Jeremy Steinke Trial.

Every source online or in the media says they cannot name the Richardson daughter because she is under the age for being tried as an adult for the crimes she committed. But if you Google “Richardson Family Murder”, the Wikipedia article, and every source or media reference gives the history as: “Richardson family was killed by their daughter and/or Jeremy Steinke.” As a result, in this article, we will abide by The Law and not give her name, instead, we will just call her “Richardson”, because that much has already been said everywhere else in the media.

Jeremy Steinke and his girlfriend apparently met one day in early 2006. Sources vary as to the location of their meeting, going between a local Punk Rock show in Medicine Hat and on the social networking website Nexopia. At any rate. As Jeremy Steinke was 23 years old at the time, and his girlfriend was 12, her parents – Marc and Debra Richardson – naturally wished the two not to date; however, Richardson continued to see Steinke. At length, her parents forbid her from seeing him entirely. During the ordeal, the couple maintained contact through various social networking websites on the Internet. Nexopia, Vampirefreaks and Bolt seem to be the main three.

Jeremy Steinke. Image courtesy of Canada.com

Jeremy Steinke. Image courtesy of Canada.com

On Vampirefreaks, Jeremy Steinke listed several personal interests that many people in the Western World have. BMXing, skateboarding, snowboarding, cars, music, piercings, tattoos. But as the list goes down, the interests get a little more (socially perceived) dark and name such interests as scarification, pain, “kinky fetishes”, blood, razorblades, Lycan’s and his girlfriend. In his profile on Bolt, Steinke describes himself as “A Gothic individual who believes in blood, destruction, guts, gore and greed. Am I God’s champion or Satan’s angel?” Apparently, he would often comment to his friends how he was a 300 year old werewolf.

Perceivably, these traits, coupled with photographs of him wearing dark clothes and eyeliner, and having a shaved head, lead many people – as I have heard discussed – to comment on how “weird” and “freaky” he is. The truth is that no matter how “bad” a person might appear, they might be the nicest person ever. I have been to quite a few Punk Rock shows, and there are numerous people who “look” dangerous or threatening, but when you talk to them, they seem quite intellectual, or even so nice as to help you up if you get knocked down while dancing. But the 300 year old werewolf thing is kind of weird. All-in-all, his interests, style of dress, and falsified comments regarding himself were probably, in part, an attempt by him to appear to be part of certain scenes (music scenes, trends, etc.) and getting people to pay attention to him. At any rate, in an interview his Mother said he was a very nice young man. Mother’s are always right, as mine always says.

THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »


More on this subject can be found at: http://www.medicinehatmedia.com/2008/11/richardson-family-murders-steinke-trial/

Everyone in Medicine Hat and across the Canadian Prairies has heard of Jeremy Steinke and the Richardson Family. Indeed, news of their actions reached far across the nation as the daughter of the Richardson family became the youngest person ever charged with a multiple murder in Canadian history.

In a brief synopsis, the two allegedly met at a punk rock show in 2006 and for the next while they began communicating on social networking sites such as Nexopia. During their courtship, Richardson’s parents grounded her from seeing Jeremy due to the massive age difference. The eventual outcome was a triple murder of the family by Steinke and in part by Richardson. Shortly after, the two fled to Leader, Saskatchewan, where they were at length arrested.

On July 9, 2007, Richardson was found guilty of three counts of first degree murder and on November 8, 2007, she was sentence to ten years in prison, which was the maximum penalty a person under 14 years of age could receive, as well as four years in a psychiatric institution and four and a half years under conditional supervision in the community.

Steinke’s trial date was pushed back until November 14, 2008 and is taking place in Calgary. The jury was chosen in three hours of 6 men and 6 women, who were not allowed to research Steinke, Richardson, or their past history, although it seems unlikely that the jury, who are but a few hours down the road from Medicine Hat, would not already be well informed of the case.

More information about the history of the Richardson Family Murders can be found at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine_Richardson
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1897982


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