Tony Richardson was convicted as an accessory in the murder of Julie Kerry by a St. Louis City jury in March 1993. Julie Kerry and her sister, Robin, both drowned after being pushed off the Chain of Rocks Bridge into the Mississippi River in April 1991. Richardson was present at the scene, but did not push either sister off the bridge. The events set forth herein are taken from the testimony at trial, from the post-conviction relief ("PCR") hearing, and from statements made by Richardson to the police shortly after the occurrence. If requested, counsel for Richardson will provide any portions of these transcripts.

During the early morning hours of April 5, 1991, Tony Richardson, a sixteen year-old, was driven to the Chain of Rocks Bridge by an acquaintance, twenty year-old Reginald Clemons. The bridge was a local hang-out for teenagers on the North side of St. Louis. At the entrance to the bridge, Richardson and Clemons met up with Daniel Winfrey and Marlin Gray.

Earlier that evening, Richardson and Clemons were at the residence of Michael Schaffner in a St. Louis suburb. Daniel Winfrey, a fifteen year-old, and his friend, twenty three year- old Marlin Gray, were also there. Gray suggested that they travel to the abandoned Chain of Rocks Bridge. The old bridge spans the Mississippi River between Missouri and Illinois and had been closed to vehicular traffic for many years. Schaffner declined to go, but the others drove to the bridge around 11:30 p.m. Around the same time, Julie and Robin Kerry left their house in St. Louis to pick up their cousin, Thomas Cummins, to take him to the bridge to show him a poem they painted on the bridge deck.  Cummins, a nineteen year-old from Washington, D.C., was in St. Louis visiting his grandparents. 

The events that unfolded on the bridge leading to the deaths of the Kerry sisters were clearly orchestrated by Gray and Clemons, who easily dominated over Richardson and Winfrey. Gray and Clemons were not only older, but much bigger and stronger than Richardson and Winfrey. After getting onto the bridge, Clemons, Winfrey, Gray and Richardson walked over to the Illinois side and then headed back toward the Missouri side.  On the way back, they encountered the Kerry sisters and Cummins. The two groups spoke for a short time, then parted in different directions.

Winfrey testified that Clemons then said to the others: "Let's rob them," and that Gray replied: "Yeah, I feel like hurting somebody." . Winfrey testified that Gray orchestrated the robbery. Tony's statement to St. Louis police detectives confirms that it was Gray who directed the robbery. As Gray led the group back toward the Illinois side, he handed out condoms to the others.  Gray threatened Tony with bodily harm if Tony did not do what Gray said. They continued walking toward the Illinois side and again met up with the Kerry sisters and Cummins.

As Cummins and the sisters began walking back toward the Missouri side, Gray led the others in following them. At a bend in the bridge, Gray threw Cummins to the deck and told him it was "a robbery."  Clemons robbed Cummins of his cash and watch.  Cummins and the Kerry sisters were led to an open manhole on the bridge deck that led to a metal platform underneath.  The platform permitted access to a concrete pier that supports the bridge structure, located several feet below the platforms.

According to Winfrey, Richardson took one of the sisters through the manhole, and Clemons later forced the other sister and Cummins under the bridge. In an attempt to deflect culpability from himself and his friend, Gray, Winfrey testified that he then ran off the bridge in search of Gray, who supposedly left the bridge several minutes earlier in search of Tony. But in fact, everyone present at the scene went under the bridge deck. Cummins testified that while under the bridge deck, he heard two "thuds," as if two more people had entered the manhole and jumped onto the metal platform. This corroborates Richardson's account that he, Clemons, Gray and Winfrey were all under the bridge, along with Cummins and the Kerrys.  Cummins was told to lay down on the platform and then to move down onto the concrete pier below. Robin and Julie Kerry then came down onto the pier and stood beside Cummins.

For no apparent reason, Gray punched Julie Kerry in the back of the head, causing her to tumble into the river below.  Clemmons pushed Robin off the pier into the river.  Cummins was then told to "jump" from the bridge, which he did.  Cummins testified it was Richardson's voice that told him to jump.  His testimony on this point is dubious at best, as Cummins admitted at the trials of Clemons and Gray that he could not identify the voice he heard under the bridge telling him to jump as that of Richardson.  In fact, only six weeks before, at Clemons' trial, Cummins was asked the following:

Q: And, okay, then what's the next thing that happened?

A: A voice told me to jump.

Q: You don't know who that was...?

A: No sir, I don't.