Deja vu for Davis County man

FARMINGTON — "Hi Judge Page! Nice to see you!" Thomas William Randolph said as he was led into the courtroom here.

"I'm sorry, I didn't send you a Christmas card again."

Randolph, 53, was appearing in 2nd District Court before the same judge who presided over his 1989 murder trial, which ended in an acquittal. On Friday, he was facing extradition to Las Vegas for a double-killing, indicted in the deaths of his wife and a man authorities allege he hired to kill her.

"Do you waive a hearing that would return you to, is it Arizona?" Judge Rodney Page said.

"It's Nevada," Randolph's court-appointed attorney Todd Utzinger interjected.

"I'd actually rather go to Arizona," Randolph said.

"Wouldn't we all," Page replied.

Randolph was arrested in Clearfield on Thursday on a murder warrant from Las Vegas. He was indicted by a grand jury there, accused of hiring Michael James Miller to kill his wife, Sharon Causse Randolph, 57. It was a killing that police claim was meant to look like a burglary. The indictment said Randolph waited outside his home in May 2008 while his wife went in and encountered Miller, who was pretending to be a burglar.

She was shot in the head. The indictment alleges Miller was then killed by Randolph, who made it appear like there was a struggle for the gun. Las Vegas Metro police have claimed it was a plot to collect on Sharon Causse Randolph's life insurance.

In 1989, Randolph was acquitted of a similar crime here. He was accused of shooting his wife, Rebecca Randolph, in 1986 in a plot to collect on her $250,000 life insurance policy. His attorneys convinced a jury that her death was a suicide, and Randolph was acquitted.

"We felt we had a case," deputy Davis County Attorney Bill McGuire said as he left Randolph's court appearance Friday, where he went to observe.

McGuire was on the team that prosecuted Randolph in 1989, but declined to comment on any comparisons between his case then and Las Vegas prosecutors' case now.

"The outcome was as it was," he said.

Randolph did plead guilty and served prison time for witness tampering, accused of plotting to have a witness at his trial killed. The entire case, however, has now been expunged.

"Hey, there's not any chance you're going to Vegas to be a judge?" Randolph asked Page as he struggled to sign paperwork while shackled.

"I hope not," the judge replied.

As he was being escorted back to a cell to wait for Nevada authorities to come take him to Las Vegas, Randolph took a parting shot.

"Judge Page, I'm so glad I got to see you in person," he said. "I've just got to say this is the same (expletive) coming back from Davis County, and it's going to have the same result."

"No bail in the matter," the judge replied.

"Thank you Judge Page. It was good seeing you again."

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com