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July 12, 2008

Third man guilty in basketball player’s death

Staff Reports

PITTSBURG, Kan. — A third suspect in the murder of a former Moultrie athlete has entered a plea agreement.

Aaron Graham pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Friday morning, according to media in the Pittsburg, Kan., area.

Graham was one of four men initially arrested in the January 2007 slaying of Jamey Richardson, 26, a star basketball player at Colquitt County High School who went on to play for the Pittsburg State Gorillas.

Charges were dropped against one of the men, Geoffrey Haynes, according to The Pittsburg (Kan.) Morning Sun’s online edition. A Cherokee County jury convicted Samuel Becker in January 2008 on 11 charges; he was sentenced in March to life in prison, plus 68 months, with no chance of parole for 25 years. Also in March, another defendant, Edward Gordon, pleaded no-contest to second-degree murder and agreed to testify against Graham. Gordon hasn’t been sentenced yet.

Under Kansas law, the only available sentencing option is life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years, The Morning Sun said, but Graham’s sentencing is scheduled for September. The newspaper said the prosecution hopes to have Gordon’s sentencing the same day.

As part of Graham’s plea agreement, charges of aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and kidnapping were dropped, according to the website of the Fort Mill (Kan.) Times.

The crime was sparked by the theft of a safe that belonged to Gordon, of Baxter Springs, Kan., the Times reported. According to testimony in Becker’s trial, Gordon sold marijuana for Graham, and the safe contained about $5,000 in cash and marijuana for which Gordon owed Graham repayment.

Witnesses testified that after discovering the safe missing, Gordon and his girlfriend were given a ride to Pittsburg, where they picked up Graham and Becker.

After going to the home of Graham’s father to pick up a gun, Gordon, Graham and Becker stopped at two houses looking for information about who stole the safe.

Witnesses said violence broke out at both residences, including an incident in which a man was beaten and threatened with a gun. That was around the time Richardson was shot.

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