Rendell signs execution papers for North Phila. killer

Gov. Rendell today signed an execution warrant for a North Philadelphia man who in 2003 executed the manager of a Rite Aid store during a robbery.

Christopher Kennedy, 27, who had resided on the 1000 block of West Thompson Street, was sentenced on Aug. 1, 2004, to death on conviction of first-degree murder, robbery and other offenses. The state Supreme Court affirmed the sentence last November, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Kennedy's appeal in May.

According to trial testimony, in Jan. 19, 2003, Kennedy and several accomplices went to hold up the Rite Aid at Girard Avenue and 12th Street. During the robbery, Kennedy shot the store manager, Michael Richardson, 35, of the Crescentville section, a husband and father of four children, in the leg and dragged him into the office where the safes were located.

Then, as Richardson prayed and begged for his life, Kennedy held a .44-caliber Magnum revolver five to 12 inches from his head and shot him in the ear.

Kennedy's execution by lethal injection is set for Oct. 22. He is held at the State Correctional Institution at Greene.

His accomplices, Jamaar Richardson, 22; James Richardson, 24; and Lavar Brown, 26, were convicted of second-degree murder, robbery and related offenses. They received mandatory life sentences. The Richardson brothers are unrelated to Michael Richardson.