Sentence doubled for fatal blow.

Byline: Diane Dietz The Register-Guard

Judge Gregory Foote doubled the mandatory prison term that Charles Edward Richardson will serve for knocking a 71-year-old man to the ground and causing a fatal head wound.

Foote, of the Lane County Circuit Court, said at the sentencing Thursday that Richardson had a hair-trigger temper and was prone to react violently at the slightest provocation that he perceived.

And provocation in Richardson's world is made up of daily slights that most people experience and brush off, such as bad traffic and rude people.

"Your response is to punch somebody," Foote said. "As long as that's the case, it makes you dangerous."

Richardson's punch - delivered June 25 outside the Prairie Schooner Tavern in north Eugene - led to the death of Robert Geyer. Richardson was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault by a jury in September.

Foote boosted Richardson's sentence from 10 years to more than 21 years, saying that he hopes that Richardson, 54, will be "of an age" afterward that he won't be a danger to society.

Richardson has a long criminal history for drug use, theft and assault.

On June 25, he had been inside the tavern quarreling with his wife and acting "angry, aggressive and loud," according to witnesses.

He kicked open the back door of the tavern and stepped out. Geyer, a regular at the Prairie Schooner, stepped out behind him - and that's when Richardson smacked him to the ground.

Geyer, who had worked 35 years as a Georgia Pacific millwright, suffered from a debilitating medical condition.

His left arm was weak and it would shake.

Beryl Schmidt, who was Geyer's domestic partner for 17 years, told the judge she was appalled that Richardson left the parking lot without getting help for Geyer, who was obviously badly injured.

"The thoughtlessness of this guy ..." she said. And then tears ended her testimony.

Mike Paudois, Geyer's stepson, said Geyer had raised him as if he were flesh and blood. In fact, none of Geyer's buddies knew that Paudois was not his birth son.

Paudois told the judge that Geyer was a friend to everyone he met. He turned to Richardson and said that Geyer would have been the first to help him get his truck running, if he'd needed help.

"Bob Geyer was a good man," he said. "You and your wife stepped over my dad that day like a piece of garbage."

Richardson was docile during the proceedings, unlike at a previous hearing where he erupted when he was told he couldn't wear his wedding ring and was wrestled to the ground by three sheriff's deputies.

When it was Richardson's turn to speak, he said he had a "changed heart." He'd worked with a nun while lodged in the Lane County Jail awaiting trial. "A life has been lost, and I'm greatly sorry for that," he said.

And later: "I love people. I love the people. This is my town. I grew up here."

The judge said Richardson didn't mean to kill Geyer, but that's what can happen when punches are freely thrown. He said it's doubtful that Richardson can be rehabilitated.

As Richardson shuffled out of the courtroom in shackles, he looked over his shoulder at his wife and a woman sitting next to her.

"I love you, honey. Goodbye, sister," he said.