Kenny Richey faces make-or-break court hearing as he nears 20 years on Death Row

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit will consider whether the 42-year-old, who was imprisoned in 1987 for murder and arson, should be granted a new trial on the basis that he received inadequate legal representation at his original hearing and an unsafe conviction.

Presenting a fresh trial more than two decades after the crime would be a major challenge to prosecutors, whose efforts to get Richey into the death chamber have been thwarted over the years by 13 court-ordered stays of execution.

"Kenny's morale is like a rollercoaster at times," said his American father, James Richey, 69, who lives in Washington state.

He added: "I have great faith in our justice system, but I have also had my faith dashed so many times. Everything I live for is to see Kenny walk free and this decision coming up is a big one. If they rule against him, there's no place else he can go."

Richey, who was brought up in Edinburgh and moved to America at the age of 18, denies that he was behind the blaze that swept through a neighbour's flat in Ohio in June 1986, killing her two-year-old daughter.

Amnesty International has described the case as "one of the most compelling cases of apparent innocence that human rights campaigners have ever seen".

Richey, who will not be present at today's hearing in Cincinnati, has always protested his innocence.

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