Randy Ray Richardson has had one brush with the law after another since resigning from the Multnomah County district attorney's office nine years ago. Until Wednesday, he had always emerged unscathed.

But a tape recording of a 73-year-old woman speaking from her death bed helped convince a jury that Richardson was guilty of theft and fraud.

A Multnomah County jury agreed that Richardson swindled Margaret Patton out of her $224,500 house. Jurors voted 10-2 to find Richardson guilty of first-degree aggravated theft and 11-1 to find him guilty of deceiving the woman to get her to sign documents deeding her house to her nephew.

Richardson -- who was a prosecutor for six years -- resigned in 2000 from the DA's office when he was under investigation for taking part in a pyramid scheme. He was never charged.

Former colleagues say he was a talented attorney with great flair in the courtroom. They were startled by his downfall. Accusations of wrongdoing dogged him in private practice, from bribing a witness to burglarizing a former girlfriend's home.

Richardson, 39, showed no emotion as the verdict was read Wednesday and declined to comment, saying he needed time to absorb the shock.

The jury also found Eric Joe Penn, 50, guilty of the same charges. Prosecutors argued that Penn called his friend Richardson to help him get his aunt's house.

Deputy district attorneys from Clackamas County prosecuted the case to avoid any appearance of bias. During the two-week trial, prosecutors Scott Healy and Patrick Flanagan said Richardson and Penn went to the nursing home to fleece Patton, who had dementia and was dying of cancer that had spread to her brain.

Prosecutors said Patton was heavily sedated on morphine at the time. A nurse testified that she told Penn and Richardson that Patton wasn't in any condition to sign legal documents. The nurse said Penn told her to leave the room.

The prosecution played a tape of Patton, which was recorded several days after she signed over her house to Penn. Patton said she was tricked: She thought she was signing papers that would allow her to go home to die, not to deed the house to Penn.

The three granddaughters who were raised by Patton testified that they had never met Penn and that their grandmother had never mentioned the nephew.

"All of a sudden, Eric Penn is visiting her out of the blue, and she's his favorite auntie," Healy said.

Penn's attorney, Catherine Wollam, said Penn was only trying to help Patton, who felt abandoned by her family and was desperate to go home. She said the ailing woman offered to give her house to her nephew if Penn would take her home. Wollam said Patton had been wearing the same clothes for four days when Penn arrived in mid-July for a visit.

Patton signed over the house to Penn, and he made good on his promise by taking her home, Wollam said. "He had the deed in his pocket," Wollam said. "He didn't have to do another thing."

But prosecutors argued that Penn didn't care about the dying woman's wishes, because he sent her back to the nursing home the next day. Penn's attorney said that was because Patton refused to take her painkillers.

Richardson's attorney, Lawrence Matasar, argued that Patton was clear-headed when Richardson was brought in and that she told him she didn't want to be in the nursing home.

He said that Patton told Richardson she didn't want other family members to get her belongings.

"Mr. Richardson was told by Margaret Patton not to trust her grandchildren. ... "'They're just after my money,'" Matasar said.

Prosecutors strongly disputed that, saying Patton's granddaughters loved her dearly and visited her daily. The family eventually won back the house by court order.

Prosecutors plan to ask "significant time" in prison for both Richardson and Penn. Penn has a criminal history that includes assault with a gun.

Richardson has had many run-ins with the law in Oregon but no convictions. In 2002, he was accused of holding a woman by her throat, but Richardson argued she had exaggerated, and the case was dropped. In 2005, he was caught on surveillance video striking a woman so hard she was knocked to the floor of a parking garage, but she didn't press charges. Richardson was acquitted of charges of bribing a witness in 2006.

The Oregon State Bar is seeking to disbar Richardson.

-- Aimee Green; aimeegreen@news.oregonian.com