Mustafa Bush Trial: A look back at Bush’s previous murder conviction in 2006

Mustafa Bush’s previous conviction

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(ABC 6 News) — For the last week, ABC 6 News has been reporting on the trial of Mustafa Bush, who is accused of killing Kimberly Robinson in December 2022.

However, throughout that trial one detail has been left out by court order: a prior 2nd-degree murder conviction that Bush is now looking to have removed.

As Bush’s current trial looks to be beginning to wrap up, here is a look back on the timeline of his previous conviction.

May 6, 2006: Cory Richardson, 24, is shot in his home on Weatherstone Circle in Northwest Rochester. Three children and his wife, Audumn Richardson, were inside. Mustafa Bush, 22, admits himself to St. Marys Hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. Rochester firefighters respond to a report of a van on fire, later identified as the Richardson family’s vehicle.

May 8, 2006: Rochester police captain Brian Winters announces that all three May 6 incidents were likely connected. “The investigation shows that suspects identified as Black males entered the residence before the shooting, shortly after entering the residence the victim was confronted in a bedroom and shots were fired resulting in his death,” Winters said.

Winters added that witnesses at the scene said two or more Black men fled the residence — one of whom limped to a passenger van, later found “engulfed in flame.”

Bush was taken into custody in “fair condition.”

Just a few weeks prior, April 22, 2006, Bush had been shot in the head in an incident he refused to describe to police. No charges were filed.

May 9, 2006: The County Attorney’s Office asks for an extension in Bush’s criminal arraignment, as he is still in the hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg. Bush undergoes surgery for the injury.

May 10, 2006: Bush is charged with two counts of 2nd-degree murder. Court documents list law enforcement’s understanding of the events of May 6. He is officially arraigned May 11.

Bush’s charging documents allege that he was at a hotel with Cory Richardson’s wife the night before the murder, and she asked Bush for help getting Richardson out of their house.

Richardson’s autopsy showed two gunshot wounds — one in his stomach and one in his lower back and rear.

May 16, 2006: Rochester police arrest and charge Leah Quam in connection with the murder, claiming her van may have been used to drive Bush to the hospital May 6, and she may also be linked to the fire in the Richardson family’s van, found several miles away from the murder scene. She appears in court May 25 on a charge of aiding Bush in the murder.

Quam pleads guilty to aiding an offender in September of 2006, agrees to testify against Bush, and is sentenced to 20 years’ probation. The conviction was later declared a misdemeanor, and Quam’s probation ended in 2017.

July 5, 2006: Bush pleads not guilty to both murder charges.

July 8, 2006: Minneapolis police pull Parnell Johnson over in the Twin Cities. Olmsted County had filed an arrest warrant for Johnson in connection with the murder, as the alleged second man in the room when Richardson was murdered.

Police believe that Quam, above, drove Johnson to buy gas and he also set the Richardson van on fire.

He pleads guilty to aiding and abetting 2nd-degree murder in January of 2007, and agrees to testify against Bush and Audumn Richardson, below.

“We confronted him with guns,” Johnson said during his hearing, according to previous ABC 6 News reporting.

“Richardson woke up and tried to get off the bed. That is when Johnson used the shotgun to hit Richardson in the shoulder, Johnson said. 

“There was a struggle. The gun went off, and Bush was hit in the leg; then Bush fired the pistol at Richardson, Johnson said.”

Johnson is later sentenced to 141 months.

July 11, 2006: Police arrest Audumn Richardson for her role in Cory Richardson’s murder. Police claim Audumn Richardson aided and abetted the murder.

She pleads guilty to aiding and abetting 2nd-degree murder without intent in February of 2007 and is sentenced to 180 months on Aug. 13 — after saying she misses and loves her husband very much, according to previous reporting.

April 4, 2007: Bush pleads guilty to one 2nd-degree murder charge–without intent, while committing a felony.

April 18, 2007 — Bush is sentenced to 250 months, or 20.8 years in prison. According to Minnesota State Statutes, he must serve at least two-thirds of the sentence (about 14 years) before applying for parole. He is given credit for 348 days spent in custody before sentencing. Bush is also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $435.65 to a relative of Cory Richardson.

Oct. 3, 2024: Bush files an appeal for post-conviction relief in the 2006 murder case.

Oct. 16, 2024 — Judge Joseph A. Bueltel grants Bush’s preliminary appeal, beginning the process of attempting to “vacate” the 2006 murder conviction, citing Bush’s argument that “he did not cause the death of a human being, he claims he was not a major participant in the felony underlying the crime for which he was convicted, and he claims he did not act with extreme indifference to human life.”

Related: Mustafa Bush defense motions for acquittal of first-degree murder charges