Testimony begins in biker trial

OFF THE WIRE
$500 bet led to 1982 shooting death, witness says
WITNESS? ONE WAS DRUNK AND SAW NO GUN< THE OTHER IS A RAT THOSE ARE NOT WITTNESS

Carlton Richmond was lying in the middle of the motorcycle clubhouse floor, bleeding profusely from the chest, when the first Round Lake Beach police officer arrived.

The officer, Jim Craig, said he entered the clubhouse and asked the four other men present who did the shooting. When no one answered — and instead went on drinking when he then asked them to put their arms in the air — Craig said he took cover and waited for backup to arrive.

Nearly 30 years after Richmond's death, Craig gave his account Tuesday during the Lake County trial of Robert Bostic, who was charged last January with murdering Richmond in June of 1982.

Authorities have said their case had been hampered from the beginning by the unwillingness of those present to reveal what they knew about how Richmond, a 31-year-old husband, father and Pizza Hut manager, died.

But Tuesday, among those who took the stand during the first day of testimony was Kevin Williamson, who was present that night as a prospective member of the Wheelmen motorcycle club.

Williamson, who now lives in West Virginia, said that before Richmond died, he saw Richmond look at Bostic and say, "The S.O.B. shot me."

Williamson recalled seeing Bostic and Richmond sitting and drinking together at the bar just before he heard a noise that he thought at first was a firecracker. When he turned around, Williamson said he saw blood on Richmond's shirt and saw Bostic standing just a foot or two away from him.

Under cross examination, Williamson acknowledged that he was probably intoxicated at the time and that he never saw Bostic with a gun.

Prosecutors assert that Bostic shot Richmond after Richmond lost a bet for $500 that Bostic couldn't down a fifth of whiskey in one drink. When Richmond was unable to come up with the money, Bostic became enraged and killed Richmond, they contend.

"How do you value a life?" Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Ken LaRue asked during opening arguments. "This defendant valued Carlton Richmond's life at $500, over a bet."

Two other prosecution witnesses testified Tuesday that they heard Bostic himself admit to killing Richmond.

John Tesch was a Round Lake Heights police officer in 1983 and the former president of another motorcycle group called the Wheelers. He said Tuesday that he was a baseball coach for Bostic's son Tony in 1983 when he asked Bostic if he killed Richmond.

"I told him I heard he had been involved in the death of the pizza man and he said, '(expletive) happens,'" Tesch said.

Another man, James Price, of Lake Villa, a longtime friend of Bostic's son, testified that he was at Bostic's home 22 years ago when he heard Bostic claim he'd shot a man after drinking a fifth of whiskey.

Under cross examination by Joseph Salvi, one of Bostic's attorneys, Price testified that Bostic had said the shooting took place "within the last few nights" — even though Price said the conversation took place several years after Richmond's death.

Price also admitted that he'd agreed to testify in exchange for a lighter sentence for a recent domestic battery conviction.

The trial is set to resume Wednesday.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-bostic-opening-20110831,0,6493898.story