Prosecutor wants Ohio to fight ruling on Scotsman
Man deserves new trial or freedom, appeals panel said
Wednesday, August 29, 2007 3:31 AM
By Alan Johnson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Scotsman Kenneth T. Richey is on Ohio's Death Row for the arson killing of a 2-year-old girl in 1986.
Depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you're on, Kenneth T. Richey either is said to be destined to remain on Ohio's Death Row or be transferred to a county jail from which he could be released on bail.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the state on Aug. 10 to either retry Richey, a native Scotsman, for an arson murder in 1986 or set him free.
A top official from Attorney General Marc Dann's office muddied the water by saying, apparently prematurely, that the state would not appeal the decision and would instead opt for a new trial.
Brian Laliberte, head of the attorney general's criminal divisions, further stated that Richey would be moved to the Putnam County jail and could, if the prosecutor and judge agreed, be released on bail pending a new trial that might not take place until next year.
Not so fast, said Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers.
He set a meeting with Dann's staff for Friday to discuss the options of appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court or retrying Richey.
He also wants to talk to the family of Cynthia Collins, the 2-year-old who died in an apartment fire that the courts concluded was started by Richey as revenge against his former girlfriend, who lived in the same building.
JoEllen Lyons, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said yesterday that Richey has not been moved from Death Row at the Mansfield Correctional Institution and will not be transferred until the department has a court order.
Nevertheless, Laliberte's comments spread quickly in the media in Scotland and all over the United Kingdom, which doesn't have capital punishment.
"Freedom near for Scot on Death Row," proclaimed the headline in the online version of The Scotsman of Edinburgh.
Richey's Boston attorney, Kenneth Parsigian, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Paul Nemser, another attorney on the case, told The Blade of Toledo, "It's entirely appropriate not to appeal. The 6th Circuit reached an appropriate resolution. There's nothing left to be considered by the Supreme Court."
In the ruling, the appeals panel faulted Richey's original trial attorney, Richard Kluge, for failing to present sufficient evidence to support his argument that the June 30, 1986, fire in Columbus Grove, Ohio, was accidental.
That and other questions resulted in "undermining our confidence in the reliability of the result," the panel said.
The state said Richey used gasoline and paint thinner to set the fire that caused the girl's death by smoke inhalation.
ajohnson@dispatch.com
Oh, Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins." - Old Indian Prayer My dad told me!! |
I am finally going to say this *#@Off!
Who does Lammers think he is??
Can he really think that going back and appealing is an option?
What is wrong? Is he scared that he can't win this, therefore is going
to use delay tactics by doing the next best thing in his weaponry:
keep Kenny on Death Row regardless by abusing the system and the tax payers money, by constantly appealing.
Fine job your doing there, Mr. Lammers. Waste more time, waste more money!
Keep Kenny Richey on death row at any cost and if that means appealing, appealing, appealing at every turn cause thats all you got left to defend your pathetic position!
Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Get it sorted Mr. Lammers, no more dilly dallying around!
Either take a shit or get off the pot.
In criticizing, the teacher is hoping to teach. That's all.
Bankei |
Well said! I agree with every word of that!! I mean, can they actually do this - please say no!? I am praying for Kenny. 
Cheryl |
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