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E-mail StoryVideo shows no McMuffin crime
| Tuesday, Jul 1 2008 9:34 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Jul 2 2008 1:25 PM
Videos of former deputy city attorney Michael Richards during his Sausage McMuffin dispute in May with McDonald’s Restaurant were released Tuesday by the Kern County District Attorney’s staff.
Photos:
Michael Richards
It shows he committed no crimes during the nine minutes he spent in the Niles Street restaurant on May 18 when he was initially arrested on a felony robbery charge and posted $25,000 bail.
But those videos from three different angles weren’t immediately available for review before the district attorney’s office filed misdemeanor battery and petty theft charges on May 18.
Those charges were based on a clerk telling sheriff’s deputies the 33-year-old Richards jumped over the counter, pushed a clerk and left with two bags while paying for only one.
The value of the purported loss was $6.44.
Shortly after his scheduled May 23 arraignment, defense attorney Seth O’Dell informed the district attorney’s staff that there was a video and it would show his client was innocent.
The initial arraignment was delayed to June 25.
Normally a prosecutor isn’t assigned to a misdemeanor case until after the arraignment, Supervising Deputy Dictrict Attorney Scott Spielman said.
But based on O’Dell’s report, Prosecutor Gina Pearl was assigned and obtained a copy of the video, Spielman said. Pearl agreed the videos exonerated Richards.
Nevertheless, before the case was resolved, Richards quit his deputy city attorney job that paid at least $89,000 a year.
Richards has declined to talk to reporters and O’Dell won’t comment on the job aspect. The defense attorney also would not release the videos.
O’Dell said that within hours of the incident, his defense investigator obtained another statement from the clerk, and she gave a different story than what was reported in the sheriff’s investigation reports.
In that defense statement, which matched the videos, no crime was described, O’Dell said.
Does that mean the clerk will be prosecuted for filing a false report?
No, Spielman said. A Spanish language problem and her subsequent correct statement on the same day showed she had no criminal intent, Spielman said.
What the videos show is Richards — wearing shorts and a red shirt with C. Ronaldo 17 on the back — walking into the restaurant at 6:07 a.m. with a bag he got at the drive-through.
He was upset that his Sausage McMuffin order did not have eggs, sheriff’s reports say.
Richards walked to the front counter. Richards was at the counter for five minutes before he walked around the counter and through a swinging door to behind the counter.
At that point a clerk appears to try to block Richards, but he sidesteps her and picks up a bag.
He then walks back to the front counter and stays another four minutes before he finally walks out with one bag.
All charges against him were dismissed on June 24, the day before his scheduled arraignment.
The videos were released following a public records request by The Californian.