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Rogue Valley teen sentenced after shooting homeless man in head By Vickie Aldous Updated: Dec 08, 2022 04:05 PM A A Levi Cole Murray was sentenced Wednesday to more than 16 years in a juvenile and then adult prison after shooting a man in the head when he was 17 years old. Murray, now 19, will remain in the custody of Oregon Youth Authority, which handles juveniles convicted of crimes, until he’s 25 years old. He’ll then be transferred to an Oregon Department of Corrections prison, according to court records and the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office. In February 2021, Medford police responded to a 911 call reporting a man had been shot in the head. Officers found a man later identified as Richard Allen Rierson, 43, lying facedown just outside his tent along the Bear Creek Greenway. He had a gunshot wound to the head behind his right ear, according to the DA’s Office. The Greenway is a site of frequent unauthorized camping by homeless people. According to Medford police, investigators canvased the area, and witnesses reported hearing an argument from the victim’s tent prior to the shooting. Detectives executed a search warrant on the tent and found evidence linking Murray to the tent. He was later found in the parking lot of Ray’s Food Place in Phoenix. During an interview with investigators, Murray admitted to shooting the victim over a “minor dispute.” He helped detectives recover the gun used in the shooting in some brush about 100 yards from the shooting scene, according to Medford police. The gun had been reported stolen in 2020, police said. Murray was a Rogue Valley resident while the victim was new to the area, said Jackson County Deputy District Attorney Melissa LeRitz. “What was said on the record was that they’d lodged together in the tent the night before. The victim behaved in a way that made Mr. Murray uncomfortable, and he shot the victim in the back of the head,” LeRitz said. The victim reportedly had been acting strangely, she said. Murray originally was charged with second-degree murder in juvenile court. He waived into adult court and pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, according to the DA’s Office. LeRitz said the adult conviction and combined Oregon Youth Authority and Oregon Department of Corrections prison sentence is appropriate. “I think the facts of this particular case make it appropriate. Mr. Murray and the victim didn’t know each other well. There was a public safety concern. Mr. Murray had a firearm on him, and the victim was shot in the back of the head,” LeRitz said. Murray now has an adult conviction on his record, she noted. According to the DA’s Office, when a youth under the age of 18 commits murder, Oregon law requires the prosecution to prove “the youth at the time of the alleged offense was of sufficient sophistication and maturity to appreciate the nature and quality of the conduct involved” in order to waive the youth to criminal court to be tried as an adult. Once that hurdle is crossed, the court looks at a list of criteria to determine whether juvenile jurisdiction will be best for the youth and society. Experts were consulted in this case, and the prosecution asserted Murray was sufficiently sophisticated and mature to make waiver into adult court appropriate, the DA’s Office said. Oregon law provides when a youth is committed to the Oregon Youth Authority, they can be under that agency’s jurisdiction until the person reaches 25. OYA has a number of correctional facilities throughout the state, the closest being Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility in Grants Pass. The purpose of the juvenile justice system is reformation, rehabilitation and accountability. The DA’s Office said if Murray’s case had remained in juvenile court, Oregon law would not have allowed any incarceration or post-prison supervision after he reached 25 years old. Rierson was convicted of menacing in Coos County in 2018 and again in 2019. He was convicted of reckless burning and criminal mischief in Lane County in 2019 after damaging a mattress, according to state Circuit Court records. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Vickie Aldous at 541-776-4486 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @VickieAldous.