Former lawyer convicted of murder in slaying of maintenance man during South Beach condo eviction
A man who formerly worked as a Wyoming lawyer was convicted Monday of second-degree murder in the 2010 slaying of a maintenance man at a South Florida condominium.
It was undisputed that Joseph Richer, now 48, fired a gun after a group of individuals came to his unit to evict him from his South Beach home, the Miami Herald reports. However, the defense insisted that Richer had fired a warning shot after he was awakened by an armed stranger, then fired a second time unintentionally only because he was hit by police gunfire.
The prosecution said Richer knew the eviction was looming and had even changed the number on his unit. After a uniformed officer knocked on his door and announced “police,” the government said, Richer initially made no response. Then, as a locksmith unlocked the door and it swung open, Richer was standing there with a .357-caliber pistol and opened fire in an attempt to block the eviction, prosecutors said.
“He was not going to let that happen,” said prosecutor Tammy Forrest during closing arguments in the Miami-Dade case. “He was determined he wasn’t going. He was angry.”
The defense said Richer, who had been out drinking the night before, awakened only after his home was entered.
“Mr. Richer opened his eyes to see an armed man; he had no idea it was a law enforcement officer,” Richer’s lawyer argued during the trial, adding: “Only an idiot would try and stop an eviction by shooting at a police officer.”
Richer was charged in 2010 with first-degree murder, among other counts, NBC Miami reported at the time.
It appears from news coverage that Richer has not been in practice in recent years. He worked as an attorney in Wyoming before his license was terminated in 2005 for nonpayment of bar dues and had no disciplinary history, a bar representative there told the ABA Journal.
Richer was admitted in 1997 and worked for a Casper firm then known as Brown, Drew, Massey & Sullivan, according to bar records. Then he clerked for a Wyoming Supreme Court judge, starting in 2000, before moving to the Miami area in 2001.
A Florida Bar representative told the ABA Journal that Richer has not been admitted in that state.
Related articles:
Miami Herald (2010): “Shooter charged in fatal Miami Beach condo eviction”
Sun-Sentinel (2010): “Man being evicted from dad’s Miami Beach condo opens fire, kills one, police say”
