Judge at sentencing: "Whatever danger he poses to the community will be hopefully diminished by then."

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... For complete background on this tragic incident, refer to this article (with backlinks) ... here ...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfsep09/nf092109-2.htm

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Man gets 36 years for fatal beating at veterans home

Sears maintains silence on the attack

By Frederick Melo

http://www.twincities.com/ci_13803788?nclick_check=1

Looking her brother's killer in the eye, Amy Olson held high a picture of Richard Jackson caring for her daughter, followed by a picture of Jackson's gravestone.

"This is my brother now," she told a silent and seemingly emotionless Randall Sears.

The Richfield woman had hoped for a sign of remorse or a hint of explanation at Sears' sentencing Monday, but Sears was silent, as he has been for more than a year since beating Jackson into a fatal coma at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Hastings, where the two military veterans were residents.

Dakota County District Judge Ed Lynch sentenced the 45-year-old Sears to 36 years in prison, a substantial upward departure from state sentencing guidelines. He then expressed bewilderment over the worst act of violence ever reported at the state-operated veterans home in its 31 years of operation.

"This obviously is a very puzzling and very unfortunate situation," Lynch said. He noted that with credit for time served since the August 2008 attack and additional time off, Sears will be nearly 70 before he's released.

"Whatever danger he poses to the community will be hopefully diminished by then," Lynch said.

Sears refused a plea deal offered by the Dakota County attorney's office in December. He did not testify in his own defense at trial. A jury deliberated three hours before finding him guilty on Sept. 16 of second-degree intentional murder, second-degree unintentional murder and first-degree assault.

Throughout the proceedings, prosecutors were at a loss to explain a motive for Sears' brutal attack on Jackson, 54, formerly of Burnsville. Residents of the veterans home have said the two men had previously argued over computers in the facility's computer room.

They speculated that the argument reignited on Aug. 4, 2008.

Police responding to the veterans home found Sears sitting yards away from Jackson's broken body, Sears' hands bloody and folded. A nurse later testified she overheard him say to an officer, "I did it," and then, "I'm not going to talk about it."

Jackson, who had been undergoing cancer treatment while living at the veterans home, died three weeks later during surgery at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. He had suffered substantial head trauma.

Sears' attorneys said he spent nine years in the military and served in tank crews in Afghanistan and Somalia. Prosecutors noted that psychological evaluations showed no strong evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder, though he was being treated at the veterans home for depression-like symptoms.

Sears' father had suffered from depression and his mother from schizophrenia, said his attorneys.

One of Sears' attorneys, Susan Elias, told Lynch on Monday that he had provided little insight into the crime in the months since.

"I've had a year to work with Mr. Sears ... and I have found it at times to be easy to speak with him, and at times to be difficult," she said.

Sears refused to meet with Elias or defense attorney Warren Kochis on the morning of his sentencing. Prosecutors informed Lynch he had also refused to cooperate with a pre-sentence investigation aimed, in part, at determining whether he showed any remorse.

Lynch offered Sears the chance to speak before handing down a prison term that was roughly 14 years longer than called for under state sentencing guidelines: "Mr. Sears, this is your opportunity. ... Any more to say?"

For a long, awkward moment, Sears sat in silence. Kochis asked that the record reflect Sears' refusal to answer the question.

Olson, Jackson's sister, told the court her brother had struggled with cancer after leaving the Army in the mid-1980s.

"I have nobody left," she said, her eyes red. "My mother is gone. My father has dementia."

Before walking back to her seat in the courtroom, she turned to Sears and said: "I hope God forgives you."

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Randall Sears