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53 °F 5 Day Forecast Saturday, November 29, 2003 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | eSouthernOregon | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend October 16, 2003 Richard Linwood Guinn Murder-for-hire verdict: guilty By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune A jury of six men and six women found Richard Linwood Guinn guilty of all charges linked to his March plot to hire a teenager to kill the mother of his child. After deliberating roughly an hour and a half, jurors returned guilty verdicts Wednesday on charges of attempted aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder. Although Guinn, 52, had cried in the courtroom as a recording of his scheming played for the jury Tuesday, he sat motionless and silent while Jackson County Circuit Court Judge William Purdy read the jury ballots. His mother, Doris Guinn, had left the courtroom earlier in the day and said she couldn’t bear to watch the jurors’ faces. Other family members who attended the trial rushed out after the verdict without comment. Advertisement His intended victim, Judy Weaver, who sat through the trial with a group of supporters, also left quickly and declined to comment. The conviction ended a two-day trial that laid out Guinn’s plans to hire Talent 17-year-old Cody Johnson to kill Weaver, whom Guinn paid to have a child for him in 1998. After their daughter, Riki, was born in May 1999, Weaver claimed the surrogacy agreement was void because the couple didn’t use artificial insemination as it stipulated. She sought and was awarded custody of the child, but the custody battle went all the way to the Oregon Court of Appeals in 2001. Guinn, angered by what he saw as injustice in the court’s decision, plotted to kill Weaver. He broached his murderous plan to Cody in mid-March. Cody testified that he went along with the plan because he feared that Guinn might have him killed, too, once he realized Guinn’s intentions. After Guinn pointed out the victim, her home and discussed how she should be killed — a shot to the head when she was alone after dropping off Riki with Guinn — a concerned Cody contacted police. He cooperated with authorities to gather evidence against Guinn, including several conversations recorded on body wires and taped phone conversations. Those recordings formed the heart of the prosecution’s case, set out Tuesday and continued Wednesday. Guinn’s attorney Larry Parker argued Wednesday that the plotting was only part of the story. "We can’t meet that evidence," Parker said of the recordings. "It did happen. Mr. Guinn was the bad guy." After Guinn set the plot in motion, however, he backed down and tried to notify police and warn Weaver, Parker said. Under state law, renouncing a criminal scheme can clear a person of charges stemming from the plot. Guinn testified that after meeting with Cody the night the murder was to happen to provide ammunition and promise payment, he realized he had to do something. Guinn called 911 and asked to speak to C.W. Smith, a Jackson County sheriff’s captain he had met through a mutual acquaintance. On the witness stand, Smith characterized Guinn as "distraught" as their conversation rambled from their social meeting to Guinn’s custody battle to a mention that he was talking to a friend about putting a hit out on the mother of his child. Smith said he advised Guinn not to talk about murder and seek an attorney’s help in the custody issue. The caller gave no indication that anyone might be in imminent danger or require police protection, Smith said. He didn’t learn of any investigation until reading news accounts of Guinn’s arrest. Guinn also called the Wal-Mart store where he was to pick up Riki and requested an emergency page for Weaver. He called her cell phone and left a message about making peace, but didn’t mention a threat on her life because he didn’t want to alarm her, he testified. He didn’t go to pick up the child, confident that Weaver, angered at his lateness, would call police, thus gaining protection. Guinn said Cody also understood not to kill Weaver while Riki was with her. He also didn’t think Cody would follow through, although he made no effort to stop the boy, Guinn testified. Jackson County Deputy District Attorney Allan Smith argued that such efforts couldn’t be called an attempt to stop the plot, and the law calls for a person to do everything necessary to prevent a planned crime. Attempted aggravated murder carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years under Measure 11, the state’s tough-on-crime sentencing law. Sentencing will be conducted only after an investigation to collect background information on Guinn. He will remain in the Jackson County Jail until the sentencing. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4459, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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