Kenny Richey's murder retrial set for March 28

Edinburgh-born Richey is again facing the death penalty, after being charged with aggravated murder, aggravated arson, child endangering, and breaking and entering.

He has always denied killing two-year-old Cynthia Collins in an apartment fire in Ohio in 1986, and his original conviction was overturned this year after he spent more than two decades on Death Row.

Although there is no estimate of how long the retrial may last, the prosecution has released a list of the evidence they intend to use against Richey.

The little girl's mother will be among the witnesses called to the stand. A psychological profile of Richey from 1983 and carpet fibres used as forensic evidence in the original trial will also be submitted.

It later emerged the carpet had been dumped on a waste tip and left sitting next to petrol pumps for two weeks before it was tested.

Karen Torley, who has led the fight to win Richey his freedom, said some of the items on the list were "frankly unbelievable".

"I can't imagine what they are hoping to prove by bringing up a psychological report carried out three years before the fire, as that will not be able to tell them anything about the night in question," she said.

"The carpet fibre evidence has been taken apart by forensic scientists in the intervening 21 years, and if they bring it up at the retrial it will get torn apart again. It seems from this list that what they will try to do is simply paint as bad a picture of Kenny as possible, because they don't have any real evidence."

Ken Parsigian, Richey's defence lawyer, said he expected the prosecutors to try to come up with a stronger case than last time.

"The only surprise about this was that there were no surprises," he said.

"We had expected them to try to find something new, particularly with the forensic evidence, because we have basically destroyed it already. But clearly they were unable to find any modern forensic scientist who would testify that these carpet samples proved arson. Any expert would tell them that there is absolutely no proof of arson, which means they are left with the case they had, and that is good news for us."

The documents were filed this week in Putnam County Common Pleas Court. Members of the emergency services who attended the blaze are to take the stand, along with fire investigators, and former neighbours and friends of Richey. Statements from the five witnesses who have died since 1986 will be read to the jury.

Richey's clothing from the time and items from his days in the US Marine Corps will also be submitted, as will Cynthia Collins' medical records and death certificate.

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