Ricky Lee Olds got As from the University of Pittsburgh in German reading and elementary Italian. He got Bs in foundation of biology and elementary Spanish.
He earned certificates in character and ethics; in stress management; in Microsoft XP and Word and Excel.
He was a chess club member; a soccer player and official; and the person who taught others to officiate a number of sports.
He was recognized for spending eight years as an instructor for the Navy Seals Aerobics Class and developed his own yoga class.
Olds, 51, did all of these things over the past 37 years while in the state prison system for a crime that was occurring outside a store while he was inside buying chips.
On Monday, the man described by a prison official as a “pillar of the community” was resentenced for the crime of second-degree murder to a prison term of 20 years to life, making him immediately eligible for parole. The hearing was prompted by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that said juvenile offenders cannot be sentenced to mandatory life without parole.
Because it can take some time before a case such as Olds’ gets before the state parole board, Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman granted Olds bond pending appeal of his sentence — meaning that Olds can be released as soon as the Allegheny County Jail processes him.
According to court records, Olds was out early Oct. 9, 1979, with two older boys, Claude Bonner and Roderick Todd Allen, when they stopped at Fort Wayne Cigar Store on the North Side. Olds, who was 14, wanted to buy potato chips.
When Olds got out of the car, Allen, 16, said, “I’m going to rob the store,” and Olds replied, “Yeah, right.”
The two walked in the store together, and as Olds was at the register to pay, Allen walked out, following Thomas Beitler, another customer who had just left. A witness said he heard a shot and then saw Mr. Beitler holding his wallet out to Allen, who fired twice more at close range.
The prosecution presented evidence that Allen and Olds got back in the car and Bonner drove off. But Olds told police in an interview after his arrest a month later that when he exited the store, he saw Allen holding a gun on Mr. Beitler, and Olds immediately turned to run away. As he was running, he heard gunshots.
Olds was offered a plea deal to third-degree murder to avoid a mandatory sentence of life without parole, but the defense rejected it, and the case went to trial. In 1980, Olds was sent to state prison with no hope for release.
On Monday, defense attorney Marc Bookman argued that Olds should immediately be released.
“This is the evidence that convicted him. How did something like that happen to put him in prison for 37 years?” Mr. Bookman said. “I can’t, for the life of me, understand why he needs to spend another Thanksgiving in prison when everyone agrees he doesn’t need to be in jail.”
He also noted that neither the prosecution nor the sentencing judge, Samuel Strauss, who addressed his concerns during the original hearing, believed Olds should be given a life term.
While all parties agreed Monday that Olds should no longer be in prison, they disagreed on the mechanism for his release.
Deputy District Attorney Ronald Wabby Jr. asked Judge Cashman to sentence Olds to a term of 20 years to life in prison, and let the state Parole Board release him. He cited the state Supreme Court decision in Commonwealth v. Batts that requires state judges to sentence a defendant to a minimum prison term with a mandatory maximum term of life.
But Mr. Bookman asked Judge Cashman to consider granting Olds parole immediately. Or in the alternative, he continued, sentence Olds to 15 to 30 years in prison, and since he’s already maxed out -— having served 37 years -— release him forthwith. He cited a Tioga County resentencing from June where a judge there sentenced a defendant to 23 to 46 years in prison. The defendant having already served the maximum term, was immediately released.
Judge Cashman discounted both options.
“Show me the statute that I can parole someone from a state sentence,” he said. Then, “Are you asking me to follow this order from Tioga County? It’s been done wrong. The sentence is illegal.”
But Judge Cashman made it clear that he believed Olds should no longer be incarcerated.
“To say that your case is compelling would be an understatement,” he began. “You were the wrong person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
“And you spent too much time paying for that mistake.”
More than a dozen family members were in the courtroom, including Olds’ 80-year-old mother, Daisy.
Their happiness at the result of the hearing was tinged with regret.
“It’s a relief. It’s hard to describe really,” said Olds’ older brother, Willie. “It wasn’t really the same without him. I missed him so much.”
He described his little brother as exceedingly smart as a child. He used to read the dictionary, Willie said.
During Olds’ time in prison, he has participated in almost every educational and job training program offered. He has served as a mentor to other inmates, and one corrections officer who worked with Olds for 12 years at the State Correctional Institution at Somerset said Olds’ “growth as a human being is immeasurable.”
Defense attorney Wendy Williams said that upon his release, Olds would return to his childhood home and live with family. He also has already been offered a job in property maintenance.
Mr. Wabby noted that Mr. Beitler’s family did not want to attend Monday’s hearing.
“They have put the case away for them,” he said. “Emotionally, they didn’t want to open old wounds.”
Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter @PaulaReedWard.
First Published: November 21, 2016, 6:00 p.m.
Updated: November 22, 2016, 4:58 a.m.
