Blanchard rips judicial system at sentencing

Richard Blanchard read a statement to Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler Monday, accusing the county's judicial system of wrongful prosecution, before he was sentenced to 11 years for aggravated robbery.
(T-G Photo by Brian Mosely)

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Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler sentenced Richard Lowell "Rick" Blanchard II, 46, to 11 years in prison for aggravated robbery in connection with a holdup at the Kangaroo store at the Madison Street-Deery Street intersection early March 8, 2009.

Crigler sentenced Blanchard to serve the term consecutively with a four-year sentence he had received on other charges, effectively giving him a 15-year prison term.

Assistant district attorney Richard Cawley asked Crigler for the consecutive sentence, due to the fact that Blanchard was on probation at the time he committed the robbery.

But defense attorney Hershell Koger stressed that it was difficult to see if Blanchard appeared on the video of the robbery and asked that Crigler consider Blanchard's service in the Marines while passing sentence.

Crigler also denied Blanchard's motion for a new trial and appointed Koger as his attorney for the appeal of his conviction.

Koger had also questioned some of the data in Blanchard's pre-sentence report last month, including a conviction in Florida, which Crigler allowed to be part of the report, although he said it would not have made any difference in the length of the sentence.

Blasts system

Before Blanchard was sentenced, he read a long statement to Crigler, saying that he had been "wrongfully prosecuted for a crime I did not commit, thus I can not offer an apology to the court nor the victim Frank Dickerson.

"I myself am a victim and have been victimized by the Bedford County Judicial System," Blanchard said.

Blanchard said it was "impossible" to receive a fair trial in Bedford County and that his conviction was the result of "an unethical prosecutor, Richard Cawley, a rogue detective from the Shelbyville Police Department, Brian Crews and a judge who is biased, Robert Crigler."

"General Cawley and Det. Crews engaged in prosecutorial misconduct consisting of lies, malice and deceit," Blanchard read from a nine-page statement, claiming the pair "manufactured and fabricated evidence and testimony" to ensure a guilty verdict.

Blanchard asked how he could have a fair trial "when the trial judge's colleagues are all prosecutors" and claimed that Crigler deprived him of the right of due process.

He also raised two incidents -- public reprimands received last year by General Session Judge Charles Rich, and an alleged incident involving attorney Alfred "Burt" English that resulted in a no-true bill being returned by the county grand jury.

Blanchard claimed that England avoided arrest and prosecution in the incident, stating that these two examples "out of hundreds further validates my accusations that judicial and prosecutorial misconduct exists within the boundaries of the Bedford County Justice System.

"The rule of law has eroded and does not exist," Blanchard said.

Blanchard said he holds Crigler, Cawley and Crews "accountable and responsible for the anguish and grief" his two young daughters must endure.

"The court must now understand the hatred and the emanation of vengeance that has overcome me," Blanchard wrote. "I can not rid my vigilante attitude nor my thoughts of revenge."

Claims PTSD

Blanchard also claimed he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after four years of service in Iraq and acknowledged that "I have a mental disability" and needs long-term counseling. But he also said that he wants to be rid of all wrath and grudges he has against the judicial system, and "in order to see me succeed in my wishes and request, I hear by ask the court for relief."

The rest of Blanchard's statement was not read to Crigler, which dealt with his version of events related to other charges he has faced in Bedford County over the last few years.

Blanchard was found guilty in October of entering the market and telling clerk Frank Dickerson to "Open the (cash) drawer, Pops. I don't want to have to cut you but I will," while wielding a knife.

Dickerson opened the cash register, but tried to slam the drawer on Blanchard's hand and as he left the store following the robbery, Dickerson threw a can of beer, hitting Blanchard in the back of the head as he left.

The entire incident was captured on the store's video surveillance system from three different angles.

When detective Crews presented the store clerk with a photo lineup two days later, Dickerson pointed Blanchard out "almost instantly."

Crews also testified in October that when police questioned Blanchard about the robbery, he became "uncooperative," said "you've got to be kidding me," and told officers to "go ahead and book him."

Blanchard said the man in the video was not him and that he was in his room at the Bedford Inn when the robbery occurred.