http://www.richard-keech.org/memoirs/intro.html
Why is Richard Keech in Prison?
Life is a precious commodity. It's something we are born with, live with, and
then lose..... in a precious and fleeting moment. With this story, we hope to
answer your questions: we are not asking you to sit in judgement or in reprisal.
Richard Keech will be long remembered by what he did for others. While his
zestful pursuit of life during his 55 years between captivities proved him to be a
fine example of American citizenship, his enduring legacy will be the great
sacrifices he has made to secure freedom and justice for those he loved.
Richard, now 81 years old, is an inmate with a life sentence in the California
Men’s Colony--a medium security prison. His crime is that of protecting his
daughter from an abusive ex-husband. Although the shooting took place during
a heated confrontation, the court called it premeditated murder. Yet all who
know him agree that Richard is one of the most gracious and kindly senior
citizens that one would ever hope to meet.
So why would a normally gentle 77 year old man take such extreme action
against a family tormentor? The answer requires a look at both the disastrous
effect the torment was having on the family and the profound hell that Richard
endured at the hands of the Japanese military during W.W.II.
Richard's daughter, Nancy, a professional engineer nearing the end of an
overseas assignment, was "swept off her feet" by a man that can only be
adequately described as a male predator. Once married and living in Southern
California, he continued in a European singles lifestyle. Unable to find gainful
employment, he exhausted her savings in various pursuits.
As marital conflict escalated, she moved back into her parent's home, divorced
the man and was given custody of their infant son. But not even a judicial
restraining order was able to shield her from the continuing harassment due to
the visitation rights granted the father. Richard became the intermediary during
visitations but the ex-husband would go into a rage and demand with loud
threats to see his ex-wife, turning the home into a war zone. Richard's wife has
a history of heart disease and had to be hospitalized due to the emotional
effects of the perpetual strife. Dozens of appeals to attorneys and legal
authorities gave no relief from the outrageous conduct.
This went on for over a year and after an incident in public where the
ex-husband threw him against a wall, Richard bought a gun. He could no
longer stand the thought of being totally helpless before a relentless bully over
thirty years younger and 60 pounds heavier who seemed intent on destroying
his family. He had experienced too much of this kind of treatment many years
earlier.
Richard was a Marine private stationed in China when W.W.II broke out. He
was transferred to the Corregidor Island fortress in Manila Bay and endured
the fury of four months of heavy bombing from an open foxhole on the beach.
Exposed to the reality of mortal combat, he was primed for the invasion of the
island and the firefight to come. But orders came from above and to his
amazement, the commander of the unit surrendered without a fight. Richard
was now a POW and spent the next 42 months in utterly depraved conditions.
Each day the prisoners were subject to starvation, brutal beatings, and
indescribably cruel treatment as slave laborers. As time wore on and comrades
died daily by the wayside at the hands of their captors, the survivors did
everything they could to cope with the hopeless, endless situation. This
included a vow that they would never again, ever, surrender. They would
rather have died on the beach fighting than live through the kind of hell they
were now enduring. Never again would they give up their weapons, their only
means of defense, to the enemy and submit to such physical abuse.
This kind of experience makes an indelible imprint on the soul of the survivor.
Over a half-century later, Richard faced a similar dilemma.
This time his strength was weakened by age rather than starvation while the
enemy was young and muscular. With no more legal redress available, Richard
was the family's only reliable protector. Confrontations became more volatile
and reached the point one morning the ex son-in-law, screaming obscenities
made a sudden threatening move towards Richard with his fist. The gun under
his belt was the only means he had to defend himself against a man who had
often bragged that he could easily kill him with one blow from that fist.
Richard fired a shot, and the wounded man fled from the front yard. In a panic,
reverting to the POW experience that told him that if alive, the man could still
kill him and his family, Richard followed and emptied his gun, then returned to
his home and asked his wife to call 911.
At the trial, his attorney used Post Traumatic Stress Disease as his defense,
which made room for the prosecuting attorney to successfully disallow the
testimony of the neighbors and friends who had witnessed the harassment and
threats. And the instructions to the jury by the judge left no room for a
sentence less than 1st degree murder. The sentence was 35 years to life. This
for a man now 78 years old.
In an interview on Dateline, a juror stated “We felt that Richard is a good man
who wanted to protect his daughter”
Richard is now an inmate in the California Men's Colony in San Luis
Obispo....and his newsletters have shown his talent for writing compassionate
stories of his fellow inmates, humorous stories of prison life as well as dramatic
reminiscences of his Marine days on Corregidor and Bataan. These, as well as
his memoirs of the China Marine days, are on this web site.
His family and friends miss him.
Re
http://www.richard-keech.org/
*****
Dick Gaines
Old Salt Marines Forum
