I'm the loved one of Richard Stahursky and I'm posting this for him. My name is Richard Stahursky, and I am asking for your help. I am currently serving a Life Sentence for the 2014 murder of Micah Boland at Maine State Prison in Maine. Mr. Boland was a convicted sex offender, he had been convicted of sexually assaulted a 4 year old girl. We were both prisoners. My "out date" is December 31st, 9999. Yes, you read that right—9,999 years.I am asking the courts to either be Resentenced to 30 years with time served or to become eligible for parole. I believe a Life Sentence is an injustice. I never meant to kill Mr. Boland; what happened was the result of me blacking out because of the years of trauma I’ve been subjected to. I regret what I did, and if I could go back, I would never do it again. I am ashamed of what I did.

This is my story.

I was originally given 28 years in 2002 for a robbery I did NOT do. I was with someone who robbed a store without telling me his plan. Even though I was INNOCENT, I was convicted just for being there and because I didn't cooperate with authorities. I couldn’t afford a lawyer, and the court appointed attorney I was given scared me into taking a plea deal.

I have now been incarcerated for 24 years. Out of those, I’ve spent 21 years in solitary confinement. Right before the incident in 2014, I was released into general population after six and a half years straight in isolation. I had no help transitioning, and I was filled with anxiety. I was placed in a pod with sex offenders, even though I repeatedly warned prison officials that I would be violent if housed with them because of my past. I begged them to take me back to solitary rather than stay there, but they refused. The Department of Corrections knew of my history prior to the incident.

My heart was already heavy with pain. My sister, who was like a mother to me and raised me, died of cancer in 2003 at only 25 years old. After she passed, I found out she had been sexually molested by our stepfather. This discovery, combined with the loss of the person who meant everything to me, made it emotional for me to be around sex offenders.

My childhood was a nightmare. Our stepfather Frank Clements beat me, my sister, and my mother daily. He was a drug addict who once kicked us out in our pajamas on Christmas and sold our gifts for drugs. By 12 years old, I was on the streets, having to learn how to be a man around violence no child should ever see. Because of this life, I have two sons I’ve only ever seen grow up in pictures. I've had my sons when I was 17 and 20, I was a boy trying to be a man.

When I went to court for the incident with Mr. Boland, my court appointed attorney, Philip Cohen, failed me. He didn’t tell the court about my childhood abuse, my years in solitary confinement, my mental health struggles, or my suicide attempts. He allowed me to read an inflammatory letter to the court against what was best for me. He told me to plead guilty and promised he would appeal for a lower sentence. I wanted to go to trial, but he insisted he wanted me to plead guilty.

There is so much more to this story than the media tells. Mr. Boland’s family sued the prison for failing to protect him, and they won. The system isn't designed to help us in our healing journey but I'm committed to stay focused on improving myself.

I know my prison record isn't wonderful. After my sister died and my mother died I felt I had nothing to live for. I felt like a "zombie" just existing. But things changed in 2021 when I met my fiancée. She gave me the hope I never had in 2014. Now, I have love in my life. I have earned my high school diploma and completed some certificates. I've been trying to access college education for years but since I can't afford to pay for it finding a funded college degree program has been challenging but I hope I will be able to find one with the help of my fiancée.

I am a man who has been kept in a cell the size of a bathroom for 21 years almost 24/7. I've been treated like an animal but I'm still a man.

I’m not the same person I was in that dark cell in 2014. I want to be a husband. I want to be a father. My fiancée and I dream of having a baby of our own, it would be a chance at fatherhood that I never had before because that was taken from me. My fiancée would be a wonderful mother. I want to be a man who provides for his family instead of a number in a cage.

Please sign this petition to ask the courts to have me resentenced or make me eligible for parole. I am not asking for favors or to erase my past. I am asking for a light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you for your support.

Respectfully,

Richard Stahursky

Note: Please don't send money after you sign this petition because the money goes to this website, it doesn't go to me.