NEWPORT — A 42-year-old Sullivan County man will start serving a two- to seven-year prison sentence next week after pleading guilty to his role in a drug deal in Newport where his son shot two other teens.
Goshen, N.H., resident Kurt Richardson pleaded guilty on Dec. 19 to two felonies — conspiracy to sell controlled drugs and use of a person 17-or-under to sell controlled drugs — and to a misdemeanor reckless conduct charge.
The latter charge had been lowered from reckless conduct with a deadly weapon, and an earlier count of felonious use of a firearm was dropped as part of the plea deal, Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway said on Thursday.
Sullivan Superior Court Judge Brian Tucker sentenced Richardson to two- to seven-years in New Hampshire State Prison on the first drug charge and a concurrent 12-month sentence in the House of Corrections on the reckless conduct misdemeanor.
Tucker also sentenced Richardson to a consecutive sentence of 3½ to 7 years, all suspended, on the conviction for using a minor in the drug deal.
Richardson and his son Jordan were arrested in December 2018 after Kurt Richardson had driven his son and a juvenile to an area near the Newport Rail Trail where they were attempting to sell cartridges containing THC, an active ingredient in marijuana, to some other teenagers. The would-be buyers allegedly fled without paying for them, and Kurt Richardson drove after them, eventually blocking their vehicle, authorities said earlier.
In the ensuing altercation, Jordan Richardson shot one teen in the chest and grazed the other, and Kurt Richardson brandished a rifle, authorities said. Jordan Richardson, 18, pleaded guilty in September to three felonies, including two counts of second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, and was sentenced to two years in the House of Corrections.
Hathaway in court last week read an impact statement from the victim, who still has lead pellets in his body from the rat shot and will have to have his blood tested regularly for potential lead poisoning. The statement also said the victim had to give up playing high school football, according to Hathaway.
Kurt Richardson uses a wheelchair as a result of a logging accident, and Hathaway previously has said the father and son were selling drugs to pay bills. Neither had a prior criminal record.
“I think if there’s a takeaway from this, it’s that I would say there were a lot of decent people here who ended up in bad places,” Hathaway said.
“The harm is not only a physical harm, but a sense of safety for the community, and a sense of safety for this individual,” he said, speaking of the teen shot in the chest.
Hathaway said he agreed to a request from Kurt Richardson’s lawyer that he not report to prison until Jan. 2 to allow time to communicate information about his health condition to prison officials so that they would “understand what his needs were and be in a position to address them.”
A message left for Kurt Richardson’s attorney, Simon Mayo, was not returned on Thursday.
John P. Gregg can be reached at jgregg@vnews.com.