OHIO. RICHEY’S HOPES RISE WITH NEW COURT RULING

Kenny Richey, a Scot on death row in the US state of Ohio was told that an appeal court decision to quash his conviction could not be set aside, a ruling that could finally end his imprisonment. Richey, who had been facing execution for 18 years, would have to be retried within 90 days of May 25 or set free. Ohio prosecutors had wanted the appeal to be reheard but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati refused.
Richey, 40, originally from Edinburgh, was convicted of killing a two-year-old girl in a 1986 arson attack in Ohio. He always argued his innocence and rejected pleabargain deals that would have spared his life. MPs and human rights campaigners had fought on behalf of Richey for years, pleading a "compelling" case of innocence. The case had also won support from the European Parliament, and the late Pope. Richey went to Ohio in the 1980s to stay with his father. In 1997, two witnesses who had claimed Richey previously threatened to burn down the flat where the child died retracted their statements. Recent forensic evidence cast doubt on whether the fire was started deliberately at all.