MOLESTER VS. JUDGE
Man who assaulted woman while she slept doesn’t like sexually violent predator tag
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A 55-year-old Upper Chichester man launched into a sobbing tirade Tuesday after Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge James Nilon designated him a sexually violent predator for a 2015 Christmas Day sexual assault.
“I never did this thing, your honor,” said Michael Richie. “I’ve been trying to tell you since day one.”
Richie was convicted in October on charges of indecent assault, indecent assault of an unconscious individual and indecent exposure for the Dec. 25 offense against a 39-year-old female. The victim was visiting Richie at his Twin Oaks home on the 2000 block of Booker Street that day, according to charging documents.
The two walked to a nearby neighbor’s house where the victim consumed four ounces of wine and two beers. Richie handed the woman the already open beers, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The victim reported that she began to feel intoxicated even though she had not had much to drink and told Richie she needed to leave.
The victim told Detective John Montgomery that she remembered feeling as though she might pass out and that she either pushed someone out of her way or pushed away someone who was touching her. She later awoke on Richie’s couch wearing a nightgown and felt someone touching her breasts. The victim said she looked over and saw Richie sitting next to her, naked and touching her breast.
Richie was sentenced Tuesday to 18 to 36 months in a state prison and two years of sex offender probation. He was also ordered to undergo sex offender treatment for life as part of the SVP designation and to have no contact with the victim.
Forensic and clinical psychologist Dr. Barry Zakireh, of the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, testified prior to sentencing that he did not speak to Richie, but did review court documents and arrest records in reaching the conclusion that he meets the criteria for a sexually violent predator.
Zakireh noted Richie has four prior arrests and one conviction for sexual offenses, including rape. Richie pleaded guilty to indecent assault in 2002. He was also arrested on 16 other occasions for nonsexual offenses including assault, terroristic threats, and drug offenses, said Zakireh. Those resulted in 11 convictions, including three for drug offenses.
Richie was diagnosed with a personality disorder involving anti-social and narcissistic traits that formed the basis for a maladaptive pattern of behavior including poor impulse control, lack of empathy and remorse, and repeated violations of societal norms and the rights of others, according to Zakireh.
“(With) many sexual offenders, if there is a pattern of sexual offending, it is in fact due to antisocial personality features,” he noted.
Zakireh also pointed to Richie’s past refusal to participate in drug and alcohol treatment, sexual offender treatment and domestic violence treatment. He found Richie’s behavior in the present case was predatory because it was manipulative and coercive with an end goal of sexual gratification. Zakireh told defense attorney Alex Amoroso that even disregarding Richie’s criminal record, his behavior in this instance would qualify as predatory.
The judge found the state had met the burden for an SVP designation, causing Richie to launch into a tearful recitation of all the good he’s done for the community.
“Your honor, I’d like to know how you go figure with that,” he began. “I never carried a knife or a gun a day in my life. I been on the planet 55 years, never handled a knife or a gun a day in my life.”
He went on to describe fixing leaking roofs for those who could not afford to do so, making sure neighborhood children had birthday parties when their own fathers could not, doing yard work for his neighbors and saving a child from a burning building.
“The mother and father ran out of the house, left the little boy in the house, and I ran in there and got burnt trying to save that little boy,” he said. “And they’re going to sit up there and tell me I’m a sexual predator when I sit up there and do nothing but good in the neighborhood?”
Nilon intervened in the rant after a few minutes, telling Richie he was not doing his expected appeal any favors by demonstrating the lack of impulse control Zakireh described. He noted Richie can appeal the SVP finding as well as the conviction.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Galantino said Richie has already been incarcerated for 15 or 16 months. Though he will get credit for time served as determined by the state, he will have to complete a sex offender treatment program before he is eligible for release, Galantino said.
“The mother and father ran out of the house, left the little boy in the house, and I ran in there and got burnt trying to save that little boy. “And they’re going to sit up there and tell me I’m a sexual predator when I sit up there and do nothing but good in the neighborhood?”
— Convicted sexually violent predator Michael Richie