A convicted killer maintained his innocence Tuesday at the opening of his second murder trial, saying he’s not the masked armed robber who fatally shot a 7-Eleven store clerk in Columbia.
Charles Richardson, 26, who was convicted Oct. 2 of killing a Columbia teen, now faces charges in the April 2007 slaying of Alevtina Zhilina at a convenience store across the street from Richardson’s apartment on Columbia Road — a crime in which prosecutors could have sought the death penalty.
Howard police identified Richardson as the shooter with the help of witnesses who overheard Richardson bragging he had killed her, said prosecutor Lisa Broten during opening arguments Tuesday.
Zhilina “went from being a valued, hardworking clerk to a woman fighting for her last breath lying in a pool of her own blood,” Broten told the jury.
Police Officer Jason Dicerbo testified that Zhilina’s death was one of the worst crime scenes to which he’s responded in his nine years of service. She had no pulse when Dicerbo arrived and was bleeding from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Brian Buckman, a Columbia cab driver who witnessed the 3 a.m. shooting from the parking lot, said he saw Zhilina reaching to pull off the shooter’s mask before she was killed.
Buckman also identified the alleged murder weapon — a gun prosecutors said Richardson bought and carried with him every day until police found it at the bottom of a drainage pond after the shooting.
Richardson’s former co-worker also was expected to testify that he found police fliers about the shooting stuffed into Richardson’s locker at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia.
Defense attorney Mark Van Bavel said Richardson was not the shooter on the store surveillance video and he warned against trusting witnesses “who may hear something and draw a conclusion” or “would perhaps have something to gain [from testifying].”
Richardson’s trial before Howard Circuit Judge Diane Leasure is expected to continue through Friday.
When sentenced, he faces up to life in prison for the May 2007 murder of Trae Allen, 19, whom police found dead at the Columbia town house where Richardson was living.
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