Pain, Frustration, Despair, and Hope: How a Condemned Man Faces His Future

Randall Raar is likely to die in prison; it evokes a range of emotions.

What is it like to stare at a future where you will likely die in prison?

I have been communicating for months through JPay with Randall Raar, who is currently housed at the Richard A Handlan Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan.

He is staring at a prison sentence which won’t release him until 2036 at the earliest and 2056, if he serves the maximum.

Raar recently “celebrated” his 75th birthday so that likely means he’ll die in prison.

I haven’t asked him directly what he thinks of the prospects of dying in prison, but in months of conversations, he goes from broken, to frustrated, to hopeful, confused, and more.

“Will the media listen to my theory? Look what happened to me. Sixteen years. Today, my 75th birthday,” He told me on his birthday, May 24, 2022, “I am 75 today. Very depressed. Wife is alone.”

One of his biggest frustrations has been his poor representation throughout the process. He has told me numerous times that fourteen lawyers have done nothing for him.

“NO attorney will take my cases. 16 years, $62,500 spent. Last four years, four lawyers, $16,500. Did zilch.” He said in one email.

“My problem is 16+ years knowing full well how 14 attorneys have denied me an {sic} Due Process. In a mental health facility without any legalist to guide me.” He said in another email.

“SIXTEEN years, 14 attached attorneys, wrote 167 to attach and NOBODY will take this seriously. Time for a reboot, reset. Funding lawyers in Michigan won't do it.” He said in yet another.

“Bless you for keeping up with me. SIXTEEN years is getting the best of me.” He said in another.

It’s something I hear from him so often that I wonder how much he thinks about it: quite a lot probably.

It likely burns, eating inside him.

He has reason to burn. Randall should not be in jail. He was convicted of possession of child pornography, though he claims that amounted to a nudist colony magazine.

He remains in jail because he was also convicted child sexual abuse, but this was a charge sustained when a twenty-one-year-old testified about things which purported to happen when she was six.

The 59-year-old defendant was convicted of sexually assaulting his then five-year-old neighbor in the summer of 1989 or 1990. In April 2006, the police received information that caused them to investigate defendant and canvass his former neighborhoods. At that time, they had contact with the victim, who alleged that defendant had sexually assaulted her when she was four or five years old by digitally penetrating her vagina. At trial, the 21-year-old victim testified that defendant and his roommate, Robert Higgins, lived next door to her family’s home. Defendant and Higgins encouraged the neighborhood children to come to their home and use their above-ground pool. The victim indicated that she and her neighbor, AB, were among the children who spent time at defendant’s house. The victim explained that defendant and Higgins, both dressed in swimsuits, would be in the pool and catch the children as they came down an attached slide. The victim stated that defendant would “catch [them] between [their] legs and put his hands—or try to put his hands up [them].”

Guilty or not, a lawyer should have been able to find reasonable doubt, or a good appeal given that evidence.

Not so, instead, he has wasted away even as lawyer after lawyer has failed him, “My life is in your hands now. NO attorney will touch my case, $62,500 spent. This is why the prisons are feeding off of the corruption in the legal system.”

He continued in another.

I have written 157 lawyers in the Wayne Co. case; none will attach with ample funding.

NOBODY wants to take cases like mine. Thus, it is obvious why the AG hit me with these charges.

His current attorney, Robert Levi, has dragged his feet, according to Randall.

My lawyer continues to drag his feet to get what affidavits I need to assist you. For fourteen months since I started discussing this with him, 9 months retained, he has dragged out what I need to get affidavits from an expert, Private Eye, polygrapher.

There is an endless pit of funding inasmuch as LAWYERS will not expose both cases.

I previously reached out to Levi at his office but did not receive a response.

This is one of many pains and frustrations of those condemned to prison which the public does not understand.

The legal process is painfully slow, meanwhile you rot away: particularly if you are wrongfully convicted.

In 2019, I featured a story about Anna Sigga Nicolazzi, a celebrity prosecutor who cheated.

Her most notorious case was the conviction of John Giuca. In 2019, his attorney, Mark Bederow, discovered an audio recording which turned the case on its head.

An informant, Joseph Ingram, told Nicolazzi that Giuca was innocent and contradicted the story of the state’s star witness, John Avitto.

Except, Nicolazzi withheld the audio recording of their interview and Bederow did not receive it until 2018.

In 2022, they are still awaiting a ruling on whether this will overturn Giuca’s conviction.

Giuca had recently graduated high school when he entered prison; he will be 39 in October and remains in prison awaiting his latest ruling.

Another thing I hear from Randall about is an almost schizophrenic obsession with media strategy.

Randall brainstorms about getting a website, a billboard, a full-page ad, among all sorts of ideas for ways to raise awareness of his plight.

“My goal, a roadside billboard with a large web site -- www.raarraar.com.” He said in one email.

He continued in another, “My next option, large web site on 3 large roadside billboards by MSP posts.”

How did it go in Shawshank Redemption?

“Prison time is slow time; so, you do what you can to keep going.” Morgan Freeman as Red said in a voiceover.

Andy Dufrene built a library and a chess set; Randall Raar develops strategy for media attention to prove his innocence.

“I need publicity. Michigan courts are so complicit.” He said in another email. “I wrote AP many times. They probably call someone and think I am a chank.”

Post-script

This is the fourth article on wrongful convictions. Find the first, second, and third articles here. Find the fundraiser for this project to support more work like this.