Richey's attorneys push to speed up case

Richey's attorneys filed the motion Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. The at-torneys also asked Judge Patricia Gaughan to order the 90-day period be made retroactive to May 16 when she received the case, according to court records.

In the motion the attorneys write, "This is a death penalty case" in capital bold print that also was underlined. They said the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Richey's con-viction in January but the process hasn't moved.

Richey remains on Ohio's death row despite the fact the 6th Circuit overturned his conviction for the 1986 fatal apartment fire in Columbus Grove that killed 2-year-old Cynthia Collins.

Sixth Circuit judges said Richey's trial attorneys provided inadequate representation and the charge of aggravated murder, as the law read in 1986, only would have applied if Richey would have killed the person he allegedly intended to kill, and not the young girl.

Richey's attorneys harp on the issue of retrying or releasing Richey within 90 days saying the 6th Circuit was clear by what it meant and any notion by the state the phrase meant something else is wrong. They pointed to a statement a representative at the Ohio Attorney General's Office made saying only the process must start during that time, not the actual start of a trial.

Meanwhile, Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers, who will inherit the case and ulti-mately make a decision on how to proceed, said Thursday he hasn't decided on whether he will retry the case. Lammers is trying to arrange a meeting state attorneys who were involved in the appeals to discuss the evidence and various legal options, he said.

Lammers has reviewed the evidence that convicted Richey in 1987 but declined to say which way he was leaning. He did, however, say he plans to make a decision soon after meeting with the state attorneys, which he wants to be sooner than later.

"Once that happens I think I will be in a very good position to make a decision," he said.

The delays have left Richey on an emotional roller coaster, his fiancée Karen Torley said Thursday.

"It seems the 90 days is off and on. We have been very confused by what is happening. He feels he should have been out," she said.

Richey said he should have been out in April since the court ruling that overturned his con-viction was in January, she said.

"He's depressed because it's like somebody said to him you're going home. No, you're not," she said.

Still, Richey hasn't lost faith he will get out, she said.

"He thinks the state is going to mess around and keep him there as long as they can only to be told you can go home when they could have told him that long ago," she said