Judge sends rapist back to prison

A Montgomery County judge yesterday returned to prison a Derwood man who many think should never have been released into the home of his teen victim.

Circuit Court Judge Durke H. Thompson reinstated the 81/2 years remaining in Sidney Ray Richardson’s sentence for raping his 9-year-old stepdaughter from 1995 to 1997.

In 1998, Judge Thompson sentenced Richardson, 53, to 10 years, suspending all but 18 months.

Judge Thompson then allowed Richardson back into the child’s home at the request of the mother, Cynthia Richardson, in 2001. The child gave birth to a baby girl in November of that year, and when Richardson’s parole officer said he wanted to do a DNA test to determine the father, Richardson quit his job, emptied his bank account and fled town.

He was arrested in the District last June, and when DNA testing confirmed he was the father of his stepdaughter’s child, he was charged with rape again. Circuit Court Judge Louise G. Scrivener sentenced him to the maximum of 10 years for that offense on Jan. 3.

Judge Thompson yesterday reinstated, without comment, the eight years and six months originally suspended as a penalty for Richardson’s parole violation.

“It is completely inexcusable for anybody to have let him back in that house,” said Douglas F. Gansler, Montgomery County state’s attorney. “Fortunately for the community and for the victim, justice has certainly turned a corner in these last few weeks.”

“Obviously Judge Thompson has done the right thing today. It’s a sorry chapter. I’m glad to see it close,” said Delegate Jean Cryor, Montgomery County Republican and president of the Women’s Legislative Caucus.

Mrs. Cryor, who lives near Judge Thompson in Potomac, is one of many who still do not understand the judge’s decisions to shorten Richardson’s sentence and then let him back into his stepdaughter’s home.

“I’m absolutely confused. I couldn’t understand it,” Mrs. Cryor said.

State’s Attorney Kathy Knight reproved Judge Thompson during her argument.

“You believed he was remorseful. You believed he was rehabilitated,” she said. “He fooled everybody. He fooled his wife. He fooled his therapists. He fooled this court. I would ask this court, do not let this happen again.”

This is not the first time that Judge Thompson has drawn attention for controversial judgments.

In January 2000, he said it took “two to tango” in the case of an 11-year-old girl who was molested by a 23-year-old man she met on the Internet.

Judge Thompson placed partial blame on the girl for inviting the man into her room, which outraged victims rights groups, women’s groups and some lawmakers.

Judge Thompson apologized for the comment and said it was taken out of context. However, he received a warning from the state Commission on Judicial Disabilities.

The judge joined the court in 1994 and holds an elected seat until 2011.

He is an enigmatic figure. His wife, Lea Thompson, is a reporter for NBC News. He has raised three daughters, one of whom asked President Clinton one of the more embarrassing questions he was ever asked.

At a 1994 youth forum sponsored by MTV, Laetitia Thompson, then a junior at Churchill High School, asked Mr. Clinton, “Mr. President, the world’s dying to know — is it boxers or briefs?”

“Usually briefs,” Mr. Clinton said.

Miss Thompson went on to graduate from Princeton University and earn a graduate degree from the University of Missouri at Columbia School of Journalism. She is a reporter for WMAR-TV in Baltimore.