A woman convicted of first-degree murder for serving as plotter and getaway driver in a Richfield pawn shop robbery that left a customer dead was sentenced to life in prison Thursday.
Before Rosalyn McDonald-Richards, 58, was given the mandatory life term, she told District Judge Daniel Mabley that she was remorseful, although she maintained she didn't know she was committing a crime.
A 15-year sentence for an attempted murder conviction will run at the same time as the life sentence. McDonald-Richards will not be eligible for parole until she is 88. She and her attorney said they plan to appeal the convictions.
A jury convicted McDonald-Richards was on both counts Saturday following a weeklong trial. She was charged in connection with the September 2009 robbery of Avi's Pawn and Jewelry in Richfield. She was accused of helping to plot the robbery and serving as a getaway driver for her boyfriend, Calvin Anderson, and Johnny Perry.
Perry shot customer Malcolm Cowens, 33, as Cowens and clerk Antonio Culpepper tried to flee the store. Cowens, who was shot in the back, died. Culpepper survived. Perry pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 33-year sentence in exchange for testifying against his co-defendants. Anderson has not yet stood trial.
Cowens' mother, Coventry Royster Cowens, and his twin sister, Christina Cowens Gholson, read prepared statements to the court on behalf of themselves and other family members.
Cowens Gholson said her brother, a college graduate and semi-professional boxer who had started a real estate business and spent his time helping others, wasn't "in the wrong place at the wrong time," as so many have said. Rather, she said, he was in the right place, surrounded by people consumed by greed. The saddest part, she said, was that if Malcolm Cowens would have seen McDonald-Richards on the street, he likely would have treated her kindly.
"I know he would have smiled at her and taken her to coffee," Cowens Gholson said. "He would have told her she was beautiful and of value to this world."
