Main Menu
Home Kenny Richey Clifford to Represent Death Row Briton Clifford to Represent Death Row Briton
Thursday, 02 June 2005
Thu 2 Jun 2005
By Jude Sheerin, Scottish Press Association
PR guru Max Clifford confirmed today he has been hired to represent a Briton who has spent 18 years on death row in the US.
Edinburgh-born Kenny Richey's death sentence over the killing of a child in a fire in Ohio was overturned in April by a federal appeals court and he is expected to be freed soon.
His fiancee, Karen Torley, approached Clifford in London last month to ask him to coordinate their publicity.
Clifford said today: "I was very impressed by Karen when she approached me in my office in London, she has believed all along Kenny is innocent and she was right.
"I had already heard of Kenny's case because people I know in the American media were telling me this guy was innocent.
"It's bad enough being incarcerated when you're innocent but imagine spending it on death row. That must be horrendous."
Richey, 41, is still on death row at Ohio's Mansfield Correctional Institution, pending an appeal to the US Supreme Court by the attorney general.
He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1987 for the arson death of two-year-old Cynthia Collins.
Prosecutors said Richey started the fire at the house in Putnam County in June 1986 to kill Collins' mother, Richey's former girlfriend.
Ms Torley, of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, was reported to have said: "When the news broke (that his conviction had been overturned) it became a nightmare.
"The press were outside the house for days and my poor kids ended up leaving home because it got so overwhelming. I just thought: "If it's like this now what's it going to be like when he?s released?"
"I'd been talking about getting some kind of agent and my dad told me to go for Max Clifford. He's the only name you really know."
The prosecutor has until July 14 to appeal against the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that Richey had incompetent legal counsel at his original trial.
Clifford would control media access to Richey if he was released, setting up exclusive newspaper and television interviews.
Under the agreement, Clifford would take 20% of the proceeds from the couple's first interview, which is expected to net more than £11,000.