Richard Alexander Richardson, 46, formerly of Modesto, was found unsuitable for parole during his initial hearing before the State Board of Parole Hearings held Thursday at San Quentin State Prison.

Deputy District Attorney John Goold appeared at the hearing to oppose Richardson’s parole release.

Richardson’s criminal career began when he started committing thefts as a juvenile and accelerated into violent crime after he became a member of the Blood criminal street gang. In 1991, Richardson initiated a shooting attack on police officers with 25 of his gang friends. Afterwards, he fled to his mother in Illinois but was caught and extradited back to California. He was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and sentenced to serve six years in prison. After he was released on parole, Richardson came home to Modesto and participated in a home invasion robbery with other gang members, terrorizing the family including a small child. He was convicted at jury trial in 1998 and sentenced by Judge David Vander Wall to serve a determinate term of 47 years in state prison.

In December of 2018, outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown commuted Richardson’s sentence so that he would be eligible for a parole hearing.

During the hearing, the Parole Board heard evidence of Richardson’s continued gang activity while incarcerated which included trafficking in marijuana between prison buildings and various rule violations involving impulsivity and continued criminal thinking. The Board also disagreed with several statements in the prison psychologist’s comprehensive risk assessment that opined that Richardson posed a low-risk to re-offend if released from prison.

Richardson won’t be considered parole for another three years.