Deadline may loom in fire case

The Cincinnati-based court voted 2-1 Thursday to reject Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro's request to stay its order while he seeks an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court of a January ruling overturning Richey's conviction and death sentence.

The court is expected to formally issue its mandate as early as next week, which would set the clock in motion, forcing the state to make its move one way or the other as early as mid-August.

Exactly what that move would be remains to be seen. The attorney general's office maintains it would only have to start the retrial process within 90 days, if the Putnam County prosecutor's office chooses that direction. Richey's attorney, Ken Parsigian, said he would argue that the ruling would require the trial to be completed within that period.

In the meantime, the attorney general's office still plans to pursue an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, knowing that the court is not in session and would not be able to make a decision whether to hear the case before October.

The state could ask the court to stop the clock in the meantime. Richey, 40, has served 18 years on Ohio's death row for the arson death of Cynthia Collins, a 2-year-old Columbus Grove girl whom Richey was baby-sitting.

A three-judge common pleas court panel found that Richey set the fire in an attempt to kill his former girlfriend and her lover in the apartment below, but he ended up killing the child instead.

A 6th Circuit panel voted 2-1 to overturn the conviction, in part because the state could not prove the girl was Richey's intended victim.

Richey has maintained he did not set the fire, but he has admitted that he was intoxicated that night and could not remember what happened.

"Mr. Petro is running for governor; so he might want to retry the case. If he does, we're ready," said Richey's fiancee, Karen Richey, who lives near Glasgow, Scotland. Richey, born to an American father and Scottish mother, has dual U.S.-United Kingdom citizenship.

Ms. Richey said her finance plans to return to Scotland if released.

Both sides disagree over what the 90-day deadline represents.

"What that means is the state has to start the process of retrying him," said Jim Canepa, Ohio's chief deputy attorney general of criminal justice. "That could mean the setting of bond, appointing of lawyers, beginning the discovery process, ordering jurors," he said. "It doesn't mean we have 90 days to come up with a jury verdict," he said.

Mr. Parsigian disagreed. "'Try' him does not mean 'try to try him'. It's not 'Start thinking about trying him.' It means 'try him.' The words are plain English. This is consistent with the endless delay from the government, trying to stretch this out while they try for a Hail Mary before the Supreme Court."

Contact Jim Provance at:
"This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it!" ,
or 614-221-0496.