The Scotsman 10 Oct 2006

On World Day Against The Death Penalty, Karen Torley states the case
once more for the Scot who has been on death row in the US for 20 years

THERE appears to be some confusion among anti- and pro-death penalty
supporters about why I still fight for Kenny Richey and his freedom. I
think that today, World Day Against The Death Penalty, is a good
opportunity to remind ourselves why I and organisations such as Amnesty
International campaign to abolish the death penalty worldwide.

The death penalty is never acceptable, and every execution constitutes an extreme violation of the right to life. The violation is exacerbated when judgements are passed after an unfair judicial process.

On the fourth World Day Against the Death Penalty, AI and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty are highlighting failures of justice in the sentencing and implementation of the Death penalty.

Discrimination, unfair trials, judicial error, the execution of child offenders and those suffering from mental disabilities all amount to a failure of justice; and provide more compelling reasons to abolish the death penalty.

 

 

BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU

COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro’s office has asked Gov. Bob Taft to grant a fifth delay in the execution of a former Swanton man convicted in the 1984 kidnapping and murder of a Van Wert County postmaster.

 

LIMA — The fiancee of an Ohio Death row inmate from Scotland has expanded her cause, taking on the cases of other inmates she said are victims of injustice.

Karen Torley, the fiancee of Kenneth Richey, has added three other names, John Spirko and Tim Hancock, both Ohio death row inmates, and Patrick Swiney, an Alabama inmate serving a life sentence.

Torley has not stopped pushing to free her fiance from Ohio’s death row but while his case sits in limbo in appeals, she has the chance to highlight other cases, she said.

 

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Attorney General Jim Petro on Friday asked Gov. Bob Taft for a fifth reprieve for a condemned killer to allow more time for DNA testing in the 24-year-old murder of an Ohio postmistress.

If Taft agrees to the delay for death row inmate John Spirko it means Spirko's fate would likely be decided by whoever is elected governor next month.