Youth Who Shot 2 Friends Gets Prison for 2nd Death

An Anaheim Hills teen-ager, who admitted murdering a classmate four years after fatally shooting another school friend under eerily similar circumstances, was sentenced Friday to 18 years to life in prison.

After listening to emotional statements from the fathers of the two victims, Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald gave Richard H. Bourassa Jr. the maximum punishment for second-degree murder, saying the youth “is an enormously dangerous individual (who) if let out of prison would probably kill again.”

Bourassa, who was given an additional three years for using a firearm, stared down at the defense table during most of the hearing and made no comment to the court. The judge ordered Bourassa, 18, housed at the California Youth Authority until his 25th birthday and then sent to state prison for the remainder of his sentence.

His lawyer said later that an appeal was possible, but it was “too early to tell.”

Last May, Bourassa pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the May 24, 1990, shooting death of his 17-year-old friend, Christian Wiedepuhl. The shooting occurred in the same room of Bourassa’s house, at the same hour of day, four years after he shot and killed another friend, 13-year-old Jeffrey Bush. Police ruled the first shooting an accident.

After both shootings, Bourassa told police that he and the victims were handling his stepfather’s loaded firearms when the weapon in his hand accidentally discharged. That explanation, however, didn’t satisfy prosecutors after police, for a second time, received a 911 call from Bourassa saying that a boy was lying in a pool of blood in his family’s second-floor den.

When Christian died, prosecutors accused Bourassa of shooting his friend in the head while acting out a form of “reverse” Russian roulette. Bourassa, they said, took a bullet out of his stepfather’s .38-caliber pistol, pointed it at Christian and pulled the trigger.

But it has been theorized that because Bourassa is dyslexic, he may have miscalculated the chamber’s rotation and fired a live round when he thought the hammer would fall on an empty chamber.

“Christian Wiedepuhl was an absolute, unknowing, undeserving, unparticipating victim in this case,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathi Harper told the judge Friday. “He was . . . playing with (Bourassa’s stepfather’s) ham radio equipment when Richard Bourassa walked in, pointed a gun at him and shot him in the head.”

Even after pleading guilty, Bourassa maintained in a jail interview with The Times that the shooting was an accident. He said he had told a different story in court in order to receive a lighter sentence.

In subsequent interviews with Probation Department authorities, Bourassa admitted that “he shot (Christian) in a foiled attempt at playing a joke,” according to a pre-sentencing report released Friday. “The defendant’s prior involvement in a similar shooting makes this offense appear almost premeditated,” it said.

On Friday, reporters, members from both victims’ families and Bourassa’s mother and stepfather all gathered for the final word in the 18-month case, filling an emotionally charged courtroom to hear the sentence pronounced.

The fathers of both victims stood before the judge and urged him to send a message to the public that Bourassa’s behavior and handling of guns will not be tolerated.

“I believe my son was blown away by a person with no regard for life,” Richard Wiedepuhl told the judge. “Is this something that we are going to let go on and on?”

Harper told the judge that she was initially “torn” about whether to recommend that Bourassa serve his sentence at CYA or state prison.

“But after a lengthy discussion with both Mr. Bush and Mr. Wiedepuhl in the hallway (Friday) morning and after listening to Mr. Wiedepuhl’s plea in this court,” she said, “they have convinced me that (a CYA commitment) is not the appropriate message that this court should send.”

Harper recommended that Bourassa serve his entire sentence in state prison.

Bourassa’s attorney, Edward W. Hall, asked the judge for leniency and a CYA sentence for his client without time at a state prison.

“He stood up and said to you that he was guilty with the knowledge that there was no plea agreement . . . no behind-the-scenes posturing for what was going to happen to him,” Hall said. “He’s acknowledged what happened and he feels remorse.”

Hall added: “I’m not saying, and I don’t mean to imply, that Richard’s not responsible for taking the gun and shooting it the way he did. . . . But people make mistakes in this life. We’re all not perfect. His mistake, unfortunately, caused a tragedy.”

In their 23-page report, Probation Department authorities who investigated the shooting criticized not just Bourassa, but also his mother and stepfather. The two of them used “extremely poor judgment in continuing to have loaded weapons in the home after the first shooting,” the report states.

The authorities said in their report that Bourassa’s mother, Nancy Baldwin, placed “some of the blame” for the shooting on her husband, Thomas Baldwin. She told authorities that she believed the firearms should have had safety devices put on them.

Thomas Baldwin, however, said his stepson had not shown any interest in the guns after the first shooting. Baldwin defended his decision to keep the guns after the first shooting, saying that they had belonged to his grandfather and had sentimental value, according to court documents.

Bourassa told authorities that he was not close to his stepfather. He also told them that his stepfather was a strict disciplinarian and had a drinking problem.

Nancy and Thomas Baldwin also told probation authorities that their marriage was on the rocks since the second shooting and that they were undergoing counseling.

After the hearing Friday, the fathers of the two victims said that while the sentence may send a message, it nevertheless does little to ease their pain.

“Nothing will bring back Christian’s life,” Wiedepuhl said. “My family is broken. Our lives are ruined.”

Dale Bush, Jeffrey’s father, ruefully agreed, saying that he does not believe that his son’s death was an accident, even though Bourassa has never been charged with a crime for that shooting.

“This really doesn’t help that much,” Bush said. “It might hopefully sent a message to other kids. I wish the judge would have been stronger. You use a gun, you’re going to go to jail for life. . . . I wish the sentence would have been tougher. He killed two boys.”