In March of 2006, Richard Salem ran into an ex-girlfriend at a local Sedona establishment. They had a friendly visit, they discussed the ending of their recent relationship and parted on good terms. Shortly afterwards, Richard arrived at the woman's home to let her know that even though it had been difficult, he had come to terms with the split. Unbeknownst to Richard, while he was waiting for someone to answer the door, the ex-girlfriend had called the police to ask them to come and ask Richard to leave so that she wouldn’t have to speak with him. The 911 recorded call clearly reflects that the ex-girlfriend was anything but frightened by Richard's presence at her residence. Instead, the 911 tape records the ex-girlfriend calmly telling the operator how sweet of a person Richard is, and that he is just having problems accepting the breakup. The 911 operator dispatched 3 Sedona officers to the residence.
There was no confrontation between Richard and the girlfriend and she never spoke to him to tell him she was calling the police.Richard was still waiting at the door when the 3 officers approached him from behind at the woman's doorstep in the dark of night and told him to remove his hands from his pockets. He was frightened (as anyone of us would be) and confused and did not respond immediately to their demands.The 3 separate SPD reports read that after he did not respond to the verbal requests Richard was slammed against the wall, kicked in his back, electrocuted 3 times with a taser gun, kneed in the back and legs, hit on the side of his skull, and finally hogtied and thrown into the Sedona police car.During Richard's aggressive arrest, he inadvertently touched one of the officer's holsters while struggling with the officer to stop the electrocution. This gun was NEVER removed from the holster, the holster strap was NEVER broken. Again, the gun was NEVER removed. The only weapon used in Richard's arrest was the officer's taser gun. The three separate SPD police statements are all conflicting as to the claims Richard grabbed for the officer's weapon but each officer charged Richard with assault with a deadly weapon, the most serious of the felonies he was charged with.On April 17, 2007, our dear friend Richard Salem was sentenced to ten and a half years in a maximum security prison due to the mandatory sentencing laws in Arizona.Richard has been a valuable and highly respected contributor to the artistic community of Sedona for 5 years. He is a talented and successful musician and truly the kindest and gentlest man most of us have ever known. Today, Richard Salem sits in prison amongst the most dangerous of inmates in the Arizona prison system. If a man like Richard is allowed to be imprisoned for ten years because he didn’t respond quickly enough to the commands of the police and was frightened for his life when he was attacked by them, then we should all beware.This is a cautionary tale. Please learn all the facts of this case and take action. Even one of the jurors has come forward to say that she regrets allowing herself to be pressured into returning a guilty verdict.Please feel free to leave comments and let us know we have your support and repost bulletins as you receive them. It is really important that we get the word out on this. We will be using this page to raise awareness, post updates on his appeal and post bulletins about letter writing campaigns and benefits that will be held over the next year to raise money for Richard’s appeal. Thus far his defense has cost his family $70,000 in legal fees.
We will set up links so that you can purchase his CD, Cymbeline and also hope to release some of his music that has never been heard. Thanks for your time, attention & support!!!!!
