WIFE'S TEARFUL PLEA FALLS ON DEAF EARS

A Fugitive From U.S. Justice For Almost 30 Years, West Van's Allen
Richardson Gave Himself Up Yesterday And Was Sent Back To Jail To Complete
A Four-year Term For Selling $20 Worth Of LSD To An Undercover Cop

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A West Vancouver woman broke down in tears yesterday as
she made an emotional plea to keep her husband -- a fugitive from U.S.
justice for almost 30 years -- out of jail.

"He's a very brave man, a very good husband and the only real support I
have," Amalia Richardson, who suffers from breast cancer, told a New York
state judge. "I have seen him suffer. It's hard to see someone who's an
upright, good man suffer . . .," she sobbed.

But in a stark, windowless courtroom, her words were to no avail. Monroe
County Court Judge John Connell upheld his earlier ruling to send Allen
Richardson back behind bars.

Despite the fact that Richardson's original crime would get him no more
than probation today, Connell said a message could not be sent to prisoners
that they could have their sentences revoked by escaping and living good lives.

Now a 50-year-old Triumf lab technician at the University of B.C.,
Richardson fled to Canada in 1971.

He was serving a four-year term for selling $20 worth of LSD to an
undercover cop while a student at Rochester Technical Institute.

Today, he's at the Fishkill prison reception centre, about 80 kilometres
from New York City. He'll likely end up in a medium-security jail.

Since Richardson was arrested at UBC in 1998, he has spent the last 20
months -- and most of his RRSPs -- trying to avoid jail.

All other legal avenues exhausted, the Richardsons chose to return to face
U.S. justice.

When their flight from Toronto touched down at Rochester yesterday
afternoon, immigration and corrections officials were waiting to arrest
Richardson.

In 1971 he was sent to the violent Attica prison. Transferred to a work
camp near the Canadian border, he escaped rather than return to the jail
where 43 people died in a riot. He had served only three months of his
sentence.

He moved to Canada and adopted a new name and a new life, which included a
Horseshoe Bay home, bluegrass music, working with the SPCA and racing
vintage sports cars.

Richardson told the court he decided to come back "to put an end to this
old debt to society I have lived with for 30 years . . . to close wounds
and make my peace with the justice system has been a struggle."

He expressed remorse for being a "foolish, radical young man when I was 19
or 20 years old. For 30 years I have tried to be a good man, a just man."
He said the Canadian government had recognized his contribution by deciding
not to send him back to the U.S.

Richardson added that he hoped his 30 years of living a good life, his
rehabilitation and his lack of threat to society would outweigh the need
for justice to be served.

His New York lawyer, Michael Kennedy, submitted about 100 letters and
endorsements pointing to his client's good character.

"It's one of those rare circumstances where you don't have to worry about a
precedent," he told Connell.

"The circumstances surrounding Mr. and Mrs. Richardson are so unique that
no one could take advantage of this. Here is a man whose rehabilitation
cannot be denied."

When he's served his sentence, Richardson will be allowed to return to
Canada, added Kennedy.

"He has conducted himself with such dignity and made such a contribution to
society there that they want him back."

Afterwards, district attorney Howard Relin said the judge made the right
decision.

"He has the responsibility to say, 'Was the original sentence, given what
the judge knew about that defendant, an appropriate and legal sentence?'
The court has said it was and I agree."

But Relin said in view of Richardson's "pretty exemplary life for the last
25 years" and his respect in the community, the parole department may cut
his sentence.

Relin expects Richardson will serve up to nine months.

Amalia Richardson flew to Manhattan last night to stay with a friend until
it's decided where her husband will serve his sentence. Then she'll return
to Vancouver, and later visit him from either New York or Montreal.

She said she hopes to have him home in time for Christmas.

"Obviously, we hoped we could go straight back, but that's not the way it's
going to be," she said. "I'm really proud of him. He's really held together
well in the last year. We're a very close couple.

"Sometimes you have to go backwards and say, 'I did something wrong and
there is some sort of punishment to be paid.'

"I'm a stiff-upper-lip person," added the British-born Amalia, 52. "I've
held together for 18 months and it's the first time I've really cried and
once you start it's difficult to stop."

She said she hopes to speak to her husband on the phone today.

"He's strong. We just kissed each other goodbye and hopefully we'll see
each other soon.

"I've had cancer for 12 years and it could come back any day and the day
they tell me it has come back, and I don't have Allen, is a hard day. I
hope everyone sees that. There's no point in punishing two people."