This is the case of Kenny Richey, who left his Scotland home in 1981 at the age of 18 and came to live with his American father in Ohio. In June 1986, one week before his return to the United Kingdom, Kenny was arrested for a crime the evidence shows was not a crime at all. He was convicted several months later and has been on death row ever since. During the months preceding 21 March 1997, evidence was presented to the Ohio Court of Common Pleas, conclusively establishing the innocence of Kenny Richey. This compelling evidence was submitted to support a bid for a hearing to allow Kenny’s defense team to show that the case was a tragic miscarriage of justice. The state prosecution did not dispute the accuracy of the new evidence. Prosecution Dan Gershutz said, "Even though this new evidence may establish Mr. Richey’s innocence, the Ohio and United States constitution nonetheless allow him to be executed because the prosecution did not know that the scientific testimony offered at the trial was false and unreliable" Without setting any reasons, Judge Michael Corrigan agreed and refused the defense's request for an ‘evidentiary hearing’ and dismissed Kenny’s appeal. Thus Kenny was denied the right to prove his innocence of the crime for which was convicted.
The Case:
In the early hours of 30th June 1986, a fire started in an upper flat in a Columbus Grove apartment building in Ohio. The flames rapidly spread, engulfing the living room then the hallway before firemen extinguished the blaze. Minutes later, the body of a child carried out, confined in her room she died of smoke inhalation. Hope Collins, the divorced mother of the child, had left her home after midnight, driving off with her boyfriend to spend the night at his house. It is well documented that Hope regularly left her child unattended, sometimes feeding the child adult sleeping pills before doing so, the Putnam Child Welfare Services contacted her on two occasions regarding her practices that were reported by a neighbor. However, no action was taken.
After the fire, when threatened with arrest for neglecting her child, thereby being responsible for the girl's death,. Hope claimed that she left her child in the care of Kenny Richey, a friend and one of several people who attended a party at Hope's neighbor's home before the fire. Hope claimed she asked Kenny to watch her child moments before she climbed into her boyfriends truck. Kenny Richey maintains that he did not agree to baby-sit Hope's child because he was too drunk from the party. Two witnesses were present: Hope's boyfriend and his friend who sat in the passenger seat. Both men denied hearing Hope ask Kenny to watch her child. A third witness, a resident of the building, observed from behind her bedroom window. The witness couldn't hear anything, but she saw Hope get into the truck, and then saw a drunk Kenny stumble and fall into some bushes. He laid there for ten minutes, then got to his feet and staggered away. She was the last to see Kenny before the fire. When Hope arrived at the hospital her daughter had been taken to, she told a doctor that her child had previously set fires in their home (although this fact became known to the prosecutor, it was never mentioned during Kenny’s trial).
The Investigation
The local fire chief (who had been called to Hope's home on three occasions less than two weeks before the fire to investigate the sudden mysterious appearance of smoke in the home) arrived to inspect the flat first. However the investigation was soon taken over by the State Fire Marshal, Robert Cryer in accordance with state law. After a brief inspection, Fire Marshal Cryer declared that the fire started "accidentally". It should be noted that Fire Marshal Cryer insists that he never considered the fire an "accidental" occurrence. Yet, it is a claim that is both disputed by the building owner, and by the facts. After a brief inspection, Fire Marshal Cryer authorized the building owner to gut the place. Within hours, its insides we taken to the local dump. Obviously, had arson been suspected, the place would have been taped off and preserved to gather further evidence. Kenny Richey became the suspect. He was arrested and charged with arson, aggravated murder, child endangerment and breaking and entering. Kenny stated he was innocent from the start and even demanded to take a lie detector test. Prosecutor Basinger refused to allow it. (note that it was an election year, that always means trouble for anyone within twenty miles of a crime site).
Ohio vs. Kenneth Richey
Prosecutor Basinger announced that he was seeking the death penalty which instantly gained front-page attention; it was the first capital case in Putnam County since the 1800's when a pig thief was hung. The case dominated the news for months, and as a result, Bassinger was elected to become a judge. Following the election, he offered Kenny a plea bargain. If Kenny plead guilty to second degree murder, he would receive a sentence of ten years with possibility of parole after six years had been served. Kenny refused. Bassinger decided to keep the case and start his Judge position after it was over. It was a trial that lasted only three days. A trial that was void of a jury, substituted by a panel of three judges, led by Judge Michael Corrigan.
State's Theory
According to prosecution, Kenny is a calculating murderer. They contend that after getting up from the bush, he stole cans of gas and paint thinner, climbed up on the utility shed below Hope's living room balcony, and went into her home. Once there, he splashed the paint thinner and gas around the room, lit it, then escaped back through the balcony.
The Motive
Prosecution says that in a jealous rage, Kenny set Hope's home on fire hoping to burn his ex girlfriend and her new boyfriend as they were sleeping in the apartment below.
The Evidence
1.Forensic tests performed on the carpet revealed traces of petrol and paint thinner. 2.The smoke detector had been disconnected. 3.Witnesses stated that they heard Kenny threaten to "burn" the apartment building. 4.A witness claimed that, after the fire, she heard Kenny brag, "I did a good job, didn't I?"
The flaws in State's Theory
The state claimed that Kenny stole gas from a greenhouse, but the owner of the greenhouse said that to the best of his knowledge, no cans were missing. Also, no empty cans were ever found near the burned apartment. Next, the shed that he supposedly used to gain access to the place was slanted at a sharp angle, which would have made it very hard to balance the cans on it without them sliding off. Also, Kenny had broken his hand a week before, and it was in a cast. Don't forget that he was also so drunk that he had fallen on perfectly flat ground. How could he possibly have climbed onto a slanted roof with a broken hand while totally intoxicated without making a sound? It was a hot and humid night, and the ex girlfriend who lived below Hope claimed to be a light sleeper. Her window would have been open and she would have heard something. Moving on to the inside of the house, prosecution claimed Kenny splashed the living room with the flammables. However forensic reports showed that there was no trace of flammables on Kenny's boots or clothes. Even a sober person would find it difficult to not splash themselves just a little.
Flaws in the motive
The prosecution claims Kenny started the fire to burn his ex, but Kenny had lived with his father in the apartment complex and would have known the floors were made of concrete, which fire cannot pass through. Even if they were made of wood, fire burns faster up than down, and any idiot knows that the fire department would have been called before the apartment below caught fire. Also, since the ex's window was open, Kenny could just have easily saved himself a whole lot of trouble and thrown a lit can of gas directly into her bedroom.
Flaws with the evidence
The forensic tests performed on the carpet that revealed traces of gas and paint thinner were false. New tests indicated that the characteristics of the fire were not consistent with arson, but with an accident. There were no traces of flammable substances found in the carpet at all. Next, the smoke detector which prosecution believed was disconnected by Kenny was had in fact been disconnected weeks ago. Hope's friend stated that Hope often disconnected it so that it wouldn't go off when she was smoking drugs, which Hope admitted to doing before leaving for the party the night of the fire. As for the witnesses claiming they heard Kenny threaten to blow up the place and then bragging, one took back her testimony. She had only said it because she was scared and thought that's what the prosecution wanted to hear. Another claimed that Kenny had bragged to her while the building was being gutted, when in fact Kenny was no where around at that time.
None of the evidence relied upon to support Kenny's conviction is sound. From the start of the case to the tragic end, not a single thing has made sense.
Kenny's only crime was being in the wrong state at the wrong time- during an election year. You can help him by writing to the governor of Ohio and expressing your outrage about the way the justice system and the state of Ohio put an innocent man behind bars for no reason whatsoever.
Governor of Ohio
George Vainovich
77, South High Street
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
Columbus, OHIO
4366-0601