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February 28, 2007

June trial date set in teacher's aide murder

WARWICK -- A Superior Court judge has set a tentative June trial date for the landscaper accused of murdering his boss’s wife, Margaret R. Duffy-Stephenson, in her Warwick home.

Prosecutors say James S. Richardson, 39, killed Duffy-Stephenson in her Blackmore Street home in November 2005. She was found stabbed to death at the foot of a staircase. A safe in her basement was found open and empty.

In a status conference held today in Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr.’s chambers, lawyers for both sides agreed on a preliminary trial date of June 4, according to Attorney General spokesman Michael J. Healey.

Like all trial dates, this one is subject to change, but Healey said the lawyers are nearing the end of the discovery phase and actively preparing for a trial.

Duffy-Stephenson, 37, a teacher’s aide at Archie R. Cole Middle School, in East Greenwich, was found dead on Nov. 18, 2005, while her husband, James O. Stephenson III and the couple’s 3-year-old son were in Florida. Richardson worked as a laborer for Stephenson’s business, Picture Perfect Landscaping.

-- Journal staff writer Cynthia Needham

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 6:43 PM | Permalink

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