The last time Richard Ringold faced 4-year-old Nhaje Alexander, he tried to kill her.
Tuesday, it was Nhaje who held his life in her hands.
She was prepared to testify as the last state witness standing between Ringold and the possibility of getting the death penalty for gunning down Nhaje’s mother, 11-year-old sister and two others on Aug. 27, 2009. Prosecutors said it was probably the threat of how clearly Nhaje remembered that awful day — and how it would impact jurors — that caused Ringold to halt the trial and accept a guilty plea that imprisoned him for the rest of his natural life.
On Monday, police and paramedics testified that Nhaje came downstairs with her hands up when they entered the Lawrenceville home and told them, “Rich shot my family.” She had placed Band-Aids over her own bullet wounds and changed into a favorite T-shirt that her mother had given her.
On Tuesday, Nhaje was in an adjacent room with her father, prepared to give her own account of that day, when the trial came to a surprising halt.
Ringold’s state public defender, Gladys Haynes Pollard, told the court that Ringold consulted with his defense team during a midafternoon break and decided it was in his best interest to plead guilty.
Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Karen Beyers said she was only allowing Ringold, 47, to do so at such a late stage because it would spare the little girl any further victimization. She dismissed the jury and sentenced Ringold to life without the possibility of parole plus five years.
Prosecutors said Ringold shot Atania Butler, 28, after the couple got into an argument at her home on Clairidge Lane in Lawrenceville. Butler learned the day before she died that Ringold had been two-timing with another woman for months. Unbeknown to one another, the two women had been paying bills for Ringold to have a car, food, clothing and a roof over his head.
But Ringold was facing the likelihood of losing them both. The other woman, Tish Brown, testified Tuesday morning that she broke up with Ringold and moved out of the apartment she shared with him about four days prior to the shooting. She was steadfastly rebuffing his attempts to reconcile. Meanwhile, Butler was by all accounts angry, and she was demanding that Ringold return a Toyota Camry she’d leased for him.
After Ringold shot Butler, he stormed through the house firing shots at Butler’s daughters — Nhaje and 11-year-old Jhane Thomas. He also shot Butler’s roommate, Rico Zimmerman, 19, and LaKeisha Parker, 30, a blind and mentally challenged woman that Zimmerman had been hired to care for.
Family members of the victims said they supported the plea deal if it meant Nhaje would not have to relive the pain she had already endured so bravely. Atania Butler’s mother, Nancy Butler, said she believed Ringold’s actions were motivated by hatred.
“He’s so used to using women, and (Atania) was one he couldn’t use,” Nancy Butler said. “He didn’t know how to handle it.”
District Attorney Danny Porter said Nhaje’s memory of the shootings was crystal clear, even as recently as a few weeks ago when he met with her to review her testimony.
“She’s a remarkable little girl,” Porter said. “She’s very smart, and she would have knocked it out of the park.”
Ringold offered no apology or explanation for his actions except to tell the judge, “I’m changing my plea.” He frowned and put a finger to his lips as deputies led him away to a holding cell.
Nhaje was a whirl of energy in a crisp navy blue skirt, calf-high navy socks and white polo shirt. As she walked out of the courthouse into the brilliant October sunshine, her father clutched her hand. She smiled.
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