Opposition of Parole For Richard Spellman

On the morning of Saturday, January 22nd, 2005, in Louisville, Kentucky, Richard Spellman (age 35) called his acquaintance Ronnie Griffin (age 25) and invited him over to another friend's apartment. During Ronnie's visit with Spellman they had an argument over drugs, at which time Spellman crushed Ronnie's skull with two 5 lb metal weights that he was working out with. As Ronnie lie bleeding on the couch, Spellman proceeded to stab Ronnie in the left temple with a kitchen knife at least 11 times, piercing his brain. As if that weren't enough, Spellman then cut the cord off of a vacuum cleaner and strangled the former high school and college basketball player to death. Richard Spellman claims these acts were in self-defense, but according to the State Medical Examiner these acts were enough to kill Ronnie Griffin 3 times. Acceding to the detectives that worked this case the scene showed no evidence of a struggle and that Richard Spellman, who claims he was acting in self-defense, did not have a mark on his body. However, the State Medical Examiner testified that Ronnie Griffin's hands, in addition to all other his other injuries, were covered with "defensive" type wounds.





Spellman then hid Ronnie's lifeless body under the apartment owners dirty clothes, moved Ronnie's car around the corner, hid Ronnie's cel-phone and car keys in the apartment and tried to clean up Ronnie's blood. Then Spellman left to buy some cigarettes, but to his surprise, upon returning, he found that he had locked himself out. He then called another friend who gave him a ride to a hotel in Indiana. He then went to Wal-Mart and bought a change of clothes, and stayed the night in the hotel. While there he disposed of the clothes he was wearing when he killed Ronnie in a nearby dumpster. During this time he also made several calls to family members concerning what he had done, it was over 24 hours after he brutally murdered Ronnie before a family member actually called Louisville police so that Richard Spellman could be arrested.





Spellman was convicted on November 22nd, 2005 and found guilty of "ONLY" Manslaughter in the 2nd Degree and Tampering with Physical Evidence because the jury was apparently confused with Kentucky's self defense law. Spellman agreed to a plea agreement of a term of 12 years. He was incarcerated at the KSP on March 22nd, 2006 with the possibility of parole on May 21st, 2007.





Ronnie Griffin's daughter Maya was only 21 months old when her father was killed, she has had to endure a tremendous lost that will affect her the rest of her life. She is now 4 years old and often asks, "How did my Daddy die?" This little girl (one day when she is much older) will learn how her father died and undoubtedly will wonder how a man who killed her father in such an unspeakable way was found guilty of manslaughter. We ask you to wonder the same thing and to sign this petition not only for Ronnie Griffin, but also for Maya Griffin a four-year-old child who has been left without a father.





We, the undersigned, STRONGLY OPPOSE parole for Richard Spellman. Justice demands he serve the full prison term given to him at the time he was sentenced for these heinous crimes.