Former Oregon Prosecutor Sentenced for Stealing House

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A former Multnomah County deputy prosecutor has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing a dying woman's house.
Randy Ray Richardson, 39, cried Monday as he apologized in court to the woman's granddaughters.
\"I truly am sorry for your loss," he said. \"No one set out to hurt you.\"
But Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael McShane said he thought Richardson's apology was a little thin. He said he was sending the former deputy district attorney to prison because Richardson lacks remorse and was in a special position of trust as an attorney.
Margaret Patton was 73, medicated and suffering from cancer in her brain when Richardson and Eric Joe Penn persuaded her to sign her $224,500 north Portland house over to Penn weeks before she died in August 2006. In June, a jury convicted the two men of first-degree aggravated theft and deception.
The judge also sentenced Penn to two years in prison. Penn was Patton's nephew.
Richardson's lawyer had asked for 30 days in jail; prosecutors asked for three years in prison. Richardson plans to appeal.
At trial, jurors heard a tape of Patton recorded several days after she signed over her house, saying she thought the papers would allow her to go home to die, not deed the house to Penn.
Patton's estate eventually won back the house, but her granddaughters say they lost many sentimental items inside, including family photo albums.
During the two-week trial, prosecutors Scott Healy and Patrick Flanagan said Richardson and Penn went to a nursing home to fleece Patton.
The prosecutors said she was heavily sedated. When a nurse told them Patton wasn't in any condition to sign legal documents, Penn told her to leave the room, prosecutors said.
Richardson was a deputy prosecutor in the county for six years but resigned in 2000 during an investigation of a pyramid scheme. He was never charged.