Plea over Death Row brit

The federal court had asked the state court for guidance on whether Richey could be executed if there was no evidence that he planned the victim's death. However, the state court refused to consider the issue. Human rights charity said the decision was "decreeing effectively that in their opinion, Kenny should die in the execution chamber with no further questions asked". Richey's defence team now have a month from June 9 to submit new representations to the federal court. His lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said: "It's incredibly troubling. This means Kenny is back before the Sixth Circuit and if he loses there, he is almost certainly going to lose in the US Supreme Court." He said he had met Foreign Office officials and that" we desperately need them to intervene and intervene now. "If they don't do it in the next 30 days, there's every chance that Kenny will die."

Richey, 39, has spent 17 years on Death Row after being convicted of arson and the aggravated murder of a two-year-girl, Cynthia Collins, in 1986. Mr Stafford Smith has gathered evidence which he believes indicates Richey's innocence and has also highlighted a number of alleged failings by the original defence team. Mr Stafford Smith went on: "All of the evidence that we have developed shows that, in fact, there wasn't an arson and in all probability the poor child who died in this case died in an accident. "Unfortunately, that doesn't make any difference to the Americans. "In terms of the Catch 22, Orwellian world of American law, it's irrelevant if you're innocent if you are going to be executed."