The trial for Jeremy Steinke has lasted almost a full 3 weeks, two of which were spent looking at forensic data. The result in the end, after many witnesses and testimonies, the jury has made its deliberation that Jeremy Steinke is guilty on three counts of murder in the first degree.

During the court proceedings, Steinke took the position that he was indeed guilty for the murder of Marc and Debra Richardson, but that the murder of their son, Jacob Richardson, was committed by his co-accused girlfriend. The event was stated that Steinke snuck into the Richardson’s basement to meet his girlfriend there, but instead, Debra Richardson came downstairs. Panicking, Steinke stabbed the woman and soon after, Marc Richardson flew down the stairs with a screwdriver in hand to defend himself and his wife, but was soon stabbed as well.

Steinke claims he did not intend for the murders to happen, despite discussing it with his co-accused girlfriend prior, and that it was all an unfortunate accident. Afterwards, he stated that he was lead upstairs to Jacob Richardson’s room where his girlfriend stabbed the youngster, and while she initially stated that Steinke slashed the boys throat, Steinke during his trial stated that his girlfriend had dealt the death blow.

The trial involved many friends and associates of Steinke and J. Richardson, whom explained their perceptions on how the two lived, their actions before the night of the murders and afterwards, Steinke’s physical abuse as a child and his Mother’s alcoholism, and more.

More on the Richardson Family Murders can be found in these two previous posts:

http://www.medicinehatmedia.com/2008/11/richardson-family-murders-steinke-trial/

http://www.medicinehatmedia.com/2008/11/jeremy-steinke-trial/

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