North Texas man convited of shooting estranged wife, stepson

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It took a jury less than 15 minutes on Thursday to convict a man accused of shooting his estranged wife and teenage stepson.

Police said Richard Richard opened fire on Thelma Rishard and her two sons in October of 2013. Corey Dooley, who was then a 10th grader at South Grand Prairie High School, was shot four times. Thelma was shot twice in the arm.

Richard was convicted on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment. He faces up to 99 years in jail during the penalty phase, which started Thursday afternoon.

Rishard testified about the night she believes her husband was trying to murder her family.

“After he shot Corey four times he came around to the front of the car and pointed the gun at the windshield towards me and fired. Then he came around to the driver’s side and pointed the gun to my head,” she said.

Corey said he considered Richard his father. He didn’t understand what was happening.

“I recognized he had a gun. He started swearing and cursing. We said, ‘Don't shoot! Don't shoot!’” he said. “I couldn't believe it was happening. When the bullet hit me it was really hot. It was an indescribable pain.”

Corey thought he was going to die and lost consciousness.

"I felt myself bleeding out. I feel myself fading. I thought as long as Jesus saved me, I'd do whatever He wanted me to do,” he said.

He lost a lot of blood and at one point only had about a 30 percent chance of survival, but he pulled through.

He has since made a remarkable recovery. One of the bullets that hit him caused some nerve damage in his leg, but Corey said he followed doctors’ orders to be able to walk again.

In a jailhouse interview with FOX 4, Richard said the shooting was a crime of passion. However, he said he didn’t remember pulling the trigger.

Jurors saw video of a police interview where Richard said the pressure of a divorce and the fact that his wife had gone to one of Corey’s football games with the boy's biological father drove him to take action.

He told officers he expected the other man to be in the car instead of his stepson.

"I did that because she did that. She and he did something too. They did something to me mentally. I'm not a criminal,” he said. "I'm not a criminal. I'm not a criminal. Tonight I was. But I'm not a criminal. I raised Corey. I'm not a criminal."