From: "Karen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Kenny-Richey-Campaign@Egroups. Com" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Articles from Edinburgh Evening News Date sent: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 18:39:31 +0100 http://www.edinburghnews.com/ vote for retrial for Kenny here Friday and Saturdays articles from Edinburgh Evening News. SATURDAYS ARTICLE Kenny Richey pg10 by Karen Torley IF you had asked me five years ago who Kenny Richey was, I could have told you he was on Death Row in Ohio, but little or nothing about his case. But then something happened to change all that * in April 1995, British-born killer Nicholas Lee Ingram was executed after 10 years on Death Row in Georgia. The death of this man really disturbed me, because the stays of execution went on for days and days, and then they electrocuted him anyway. Until then, I had never really thought about the death penalty. I had heard about Kenny, and I knew that he said he was innocent. But I thought: *They all say that * these guys wouldn't be on Death Row for nothing.* After Ingram's execution, I wrote to Kenny because of my opposition to the death penalty. I believed that they would kill him too, so perhaps I could be a friend to someone who was going to die. For a long time, Kenny and I never even discussed his case, but then I began reading bits about it in various newspapers. Kenny was convicted of starting the fire which killed two-year-old Cynthia Collins in Columbus Grove, Ohio in 1986. The prosecution said he had been trying to kill his former girlfriend and her new lover who were sleeping in the apartment below. But slowly new pieces of evidence began to emerge that cast serious doubt over his conviction, which was based on circumstantial evidence. The one thing that stuck out to me was that the carpet removed from Hope Collins' apartment was put in the dump and left there for 36 hours, before being rolled out in front of petrol pumps. That caught my attention and made me look more and more into the case. As the case began unfolding through all the information I received from Kenny's attorneys, I began to get very angry. How could this be? How could he have been convicted on this evidence, never mind sent to Death Row? I knew I had to try to do something, but did not know what I could do. I knew that if I did not do something I would never forgive myself if anything happened to Kenny. After reading the facts of the case I could not simply pretend I had not seen it. I have worked so hard for so many years to get Kenny's case out into the public eye. I believe once people really see what went on, they too will be outraged and angry. Working on this campaign has been the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. The frustration of trying to get people to listen and see this terrible injustice at times has me pulling my hair out, as does the frustration at the slowness of American *justice*. Kenny is innocent, why cannot they see this? What are they scared of? Why won't they admit they made a mistake? I have looked and looked at this whole case over and over. I could understand if it was one minor detail we were disputing. But we are disputing many, many serious errors here, yet they refuse to acknowledge this fact. Many times I have felt like giving up on it all, but I cannot walk away from Kenny like that. He needs me and this campaign * the campaign is his lifeline, his hope. The articles which the Edinburgh Evening News have published this week have been truly great. It has given us so much hope that people will now join the campaign to have a retrial for Kenny. We need people to write letters to authorities in Ohio. They want to kill Kenny. We need the public outcry other campaigns have had. I am begging people to become involved in whatever way they can. People from all over the world are reading the Edinburgh Evening News online and following this story. The support and feedback from Evening News readers so far has been overwhelming. I thank each person who has signed the petition asking for a retrial for Kenny. Kenny has called me to find out how the articles turned out. He had me read them to him over the phone, and he is so excited that people from home are finding out the truth on the case. He like me, knows when people see what has happened to him, they will get involved and help. Media have always asked me about Kenny and I, but I always refuse to discuss personal matters. The most important thing is that Kenny gets justice and is freed from that hell-hole he is in. He calls it his nightmare, and it is a nightmare that I would never wish on anyone. One day I will go over there and bring Kenny back home where he belongs. Karen Torley is co-ordinator of the Kenny Richey Campaign. She can be contacted via email on [EMAIL PROTECTED] ends FRIDAYS ARTICLE Not everyone in Ohio believes Kenny Richey is guilty. Jennifer Veitch meets the nun fighting for justice for the Scot on Death Row. SISTER Alice Gerdeman prays for Kenny Richey, just as she prays for the lives of the other 199 men awaiting Ohio's executioner. She has never met the Scot who has spent the past 13 years on Death Row for a crime he insists he did not commit. Yet one day the quietly-spoken nun could help to save his life. Sister Alice will not be relying on divine intervention, but a growing network of campaigners against the death penalty in Ohio. A vehement opponent of capital punishment, Sister Alice is one of the state's leading and most active campaigners for its abolition. She is vice-chair of Ohioans To Stop Executions, a coalition of anti-death penalty groups who organise rallies and vigils to try to turn the tide of public opinion. Sister Alice says she would be against Kenny's execution even if he had started the fire which killed two-year-old Cynthia Collins back in 1986. However, the nun has grave doubts that he is guilty, unlike the majority of Death Row inmates. *I just think the death penalty is wrong,* she says simply. *If Kenny was guilty I would still think that * his guilt or innocence would not be relevant. *However, I think there is grave doubt about his guilt. Clearly there were irregularities with his case. *When you take away my total abhorrence of the death penalty, he deserves that his case is looked at.* Sister Alice is one of 36-year-old Kenny's many supporters in Ohio helping the international campaign for a re-trial that would allow new evidence to be heard that the fire was started accidentally. The nun, who works at Cincinnati's Intercommunity Justice and Peace Centre, believes a combination of political pressures and small-town prejudices have brought about his wrongful conviction. The 53-year-old grew up in Kalida, Putnam County, just a few miles from Columbus Grove, where Cynthia died. Sister Alice believes that the death of a child in such a close-knit community could have prejudiced Kenny's case. *Most of the people there are thoughtful, intelligent, caring people, but they are also frightened of crime,* she says. *They are not tolerant of such things as drugs or drinking, although drinking beer is almost an official pastime. They believe in their court system, and they trust it, whether they should or not. *They see themselves as a safe community, and when that is violated then people react * that doesn't necessarily make for justice. *I don't think they picked on Kenny. It could have happened to lots of other people who had some kind of connection.* She adds that mistakes could easily have been made in the handling of Putnam County's first capital case since 1874. *I would think there are political pressures that, whether or not people are aware of it, are there and they do influence people. *They are professional in one sense, but in another they don't deal with cases like that every day. Even if they did their best the chances are they missed things. *I don't want to place blame, but I would hope for greater openness.* Sister Alice adds that she has trouble understanding why so many outwardly religious people in Ohio are so supportive of the death penalty. *I try to figure it out. I would imagine it has something to do with self-protectionism,* she says. *I know people are ignorant * the concept is if you don't have capital punishment that ?murderers will be living next door and threatening my children'. *People are frightened and on the TV we have so many crime shows I think people feel less safe than they are, even though statistics say crime is going down in the US.* She adds: *The Catholic Church's position is that the state could kill somebody for the protection of society. *However, the Pope has also said that we can't think of a single place on the planet where there are not other ways to protect people. *Certainly in Columbus Grove there are other ways.* The coalition is keeping a watchful eye on Kenny's case, and those of the other Death Row inmates, and is ready to swing into action should his last appeals fail. Sister Alice says they simply do not have the resources to actively campaign for everyone until their case reaches the *critical phase.* She adds: *I am hopeful that as Kenny's case goes further and further into the process there will be a point where the evidentiary hearing will be held and they will agree he should not be where he is. There is no way he intended to kill a child.* Despite the efforts of Sister Alice and her fellow campaigners, support for capital punishment in Ohio continues to be strong, with opinion polls show two-thirds of the population favour the death penalty. However, elsewhere in the United States, the tide is beginning to turn. Earlier this year, George Ryan, the governor of Illinois, dramatically called a halt to executions because of concerns that innocent people had been condemned to die. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, Illinois has executed 12 people, but exonerated 13. Governor Ryan has set up a commission to investigate how these innocent people ended up on Death Row. In Ohio, state representative Shirley Smith is pushing for a similar moratorium on executions while the practice is reviewed. Only one person, Wilford Berry, has been executed in Ohio in the past 30 years. Jana Schroeder, of the Quaker organisation the American Friends Service Association, hopes it will be the last. However Jana, who chairs Ohioans To Stop Executions, is not confident that the call for a moratorium will succeed in such a conservative state. *It would be pretty much a miracle,* she says. *They will probably let it die, to be honest. But that doesn't mean that you don't keep working on it.* Across Ohio, billboards advertisements promote the pro-life message against abortion. One bears the slogan : *A child dies, a woman cries, every 26 seconds * Ohio Right to Life.* To Jana this message is at odds with support of the death penalty, and her group is trying to re-educate churchgoers. *From my perspective it doesn't go hand in hand,* she says. *There are some people who haven't really thought about the issue in the context of their faith. *We are trying to get people who are part of churches to look at the death penalty in the context of what their religious beliefs are. *I feel there is a vaccuum that the churches have not addressed in asking people to think about it. *They say it is a controversial issue, and there's a group of people who say, ?an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'.* Jana says the problem is too few people question the *revenge motive*, and too few are aware of the inmates on Death Row. *When the crime happens and it's all in the news, then people might remember. *But it's become so commonplace * we have 200 people on Death Row * so people don't know any of these people by name, much less their cases. *Yet at the time when it's happening, everybody is so bloodthirsty and wanting revenge.* Jana says few people in Ohio know who Kenny Richey is, much less his international campaign for a retrial * but she says the more people who support it the better. *I imagine that the politicians who are aware of it think, ?why are they sticking their noses in our business? *It's a defensive posture because we are the only ones still doing this * it's hard defending yourself. *But the more people who support the campaign and the more isolated and ashamed the United States can feel the better.*Not everyone in Ohio believes Kenny Richey is guilty. Jennifer Veitch meets the nun fighting for justice for the Scot on Death Row. SISTER Alice Gerdeman prays for Kenny Richey, just as she prays for the lives of the other 199 men awaiting Ohio's executioner. She has never met the Scot who has spent the past 13 years on Death Row for a crime he insists he did not commit. Yet one day the quietly-spoken nun could help to save his life. Sister Alice will not be relying on divine intervention, but a growing network of campaigners against the death penalty in Ohio. A vehement opponent of capital punishment, Sister Alice is one of the state's leading and most active campaigners for its abolition. She is vice-chair of Ohioans To Stop Executions, a coalition of anti-death penalty groups who organise rallies and vigils to try to turn the tide of public opinion. Sister Alice says she would be against Kenny's execution even if he had started the fire which killed two-year-old Cynthia Collins back in 1986. However, the nun has grave doubts that he is guilty, unlike the majority of Death Row inmates. *I just think the death penalty is wrong,* she says simply. *If Kenny was guilty I would still think that * his guilt or innocence would not be relevant. *However, I think there is grave doubt about his guilt. Clearly there were irregularities with his case. *When you take away my total abhorrence of the death penalty, he deserves that his case is looked at.* Sister Alice is one of 36-year-old Kenny's many supporters in Ohio helping the international campaign for a re-trial that would allow new evidence to be heard that the fire was started accidentally. The nun, who works at Cincinnati's Intercommunity Justice and Peace Centre, believes a combination of political pressures and small-town prejudices have brought about his wrongful conviction. The 53-year-old grew up in Kalida, Putnam County, just a few miles from Columbus Grove, where Cynthia died. Sister Alice believes that the death of a child in such a close-knit community could have prejudiced Kenny's case. *Most of the people there are thoughtful, intelligent, caring people, but they are also frightened of crime,* she says. *They are not tolerant of such things as drugs or drinking, although drinking beer is almost an official pastime. They believe in their court system, and they trust it, whether they should or not. *They see themselves as a safe community, and when that is violated then people react * that doesn't necessarily make for justice. *I don't think they picked on Kenny. It could have happened to lots of other people who had some kind of connection.* She adds that mistakes could easily have been made in the handling of Putnam County's first capital case since 1874. *I would think there are political pressures that, whether or not people are aware of it, are there and they do influence people. *They are professional in one sense, but in another they don't deal with cases like that every day. Even if they did their best the chances are they missed things. *I don't want to place blame, but I would hope for greater openness.* Sister Alice adds that she has trouble understanding why so many outwardly religious people in Ohio are so supportive of the death penalty. *I try to figure it out. I would imagine it has something to do with self-protectionism,* she says. *I know people are ignorant * the concept is if you don't have capital punishment that ?murderers will be living next door and threatening my children'. *People are frightened and on the TV we have so many crime shows I think people feel less safe than they are, even though statistics say crime is going down in the US.* She adds: *The Catholic Church's position is that the state could kill somebody for the protection of society. *However, the Pope has also said that we can't think of a single place on the planet where there are not other ways to protect people. *Certainly in Columbus Grove there are other ways.* The coalition is keeping a watchful eye on Kenny's case, and those of the other Death Row inmates, and is ready to swing into action should his last appeals fail. Sister Alice says they simply do not have the resources to actively campaign for everyone until their case reaches the *critical phase.* She adds: *I am hopeful that as Kenny's case goes further and further into the process there will be a point where the evidentiary hearing will be held and they will agree he should not be where he is. There is no way he intended to kill a child.* Despite the efforts of Sister Alice and her fellow campaigners, support for capital punishment in Ohio continues to be strong, with opinion polls show two-thirds of the population favour the death penalty. However, elsewhere in the United States, the tide is beginning to turn. Earlier this year, George Ryan, the governor of Illinois, dramatically called a halt to executions because of concerns that innocent people had been condemned to die. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, Illinois has executed 12 people, but exonerated 13. Governor Ryan has set up a commission to investigate how these innocent people ended up on Death Row. In Ohio, state representative Shirley Smith is pushing for a similar moratorium on executions while the practice is reviewed. Only one person, Wilford Berry, has been executed in Ohio in the past 30 years. Jana Schroeder, of the Quaker organisation the American Friends Service Association, hopes it will be the last. However Jana, who chairs Ohioans To Stop Executions, is not confident that the call for a moratorium will succeed in such a conservative state. *It would be pretty much a miracle,* she says. *They will probably let it die, to be honest. But that doesn't mean that you don't keep working on it.* Across Ohio, billboards advertisements promote the pro-life message against abortion. One bears the slogan : *A child dies, a woman cries, every 26 seconds * Ohio Right to Life.* To Jana this message is at odds with support of the death penalty, and her group is trying to re-educate churchgoers. *From my perspective it doesn't go hand in hand,* she says. *There are some people who haven't really thought about the issue in the context of their faith. *We are trying to get people who are part of churches to look at the death penalty in the context of what their religious beliefs are. *I feel there is a vaccuum that the churches have not addressed in asking people to think about it. *They say it is a controversial issue, and there's a group of people who say, ?an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'.* Jana says the problem is too few people question the *revenge motive*, and too few are aware of the inmates on Death Row. *When the crime happens and it's all in the news, then people might remember. *But it's become so commonplace * we have 200 people on Death Row * so people don't know any of these people by name, much less their cases. *Yet at the time when it's happening, everybody is so bloodthirsty and wanting revenge.* Jana says few people in Ohio know who Kenny Richey is, much less his international campaign for a retrial * but she says the more people who support it the better. *I imagine that the politicians who are aware of it think, ?why are they sticking their noses in our business? *It's a defensive posture because we are the only ones still doing this * it's hard defending yourself. *But the more people who support the campaign and the more isolated and ashamed the United States can feel the better.* ENDS cap city tie piece on death penalty by Jennifer Veitch FOR as long as the death penalty has existed in the United States, there have campaigners against it. The first person to be executed by the electric chair was William Kemmler, at New York's Auburn Prison in 1890. However an abolition movement saw the death penalty scrapped in Kansas in 1907, and eight states followed suit. But in 1927, Nicola Sacco and Bartolemo Vanzetti were electrocuted in Massachussetts for two murders, and executions reached a peak in the 1930s, averaging 167 a year. Capital punishment continued until an unofficial moratorium began in the late 1960s, and in 1972 the Supreme Court overturned all existing death sentences and death penalty laws. Four years later, the court ruled that the death penalty no longer violated the constitution, and in 1977, Gary Gilmore was the first person to be executed in the US for 10 years. However concern has been growing that innocent people have been sent to Death Row. In 1987, a study found that between 1900 and 1985, 23 innocent people were executed, and since 1993, 80 innocent people have been released from Death Row. The American Bar Association called for a moratorium on executions in 1997 until all courts could ensure there was a minimum risk of executing innocent people. Kenny Richey has two more courts left to appeal his conviction. If those fail, his life will ultimately be in the hands of Ohio's Governor, Bob Taft, who has the power to grant clemency. A pro-death penalty Republican, he sees no need for a moratorium on executions, and sanctioned Wilford Berry's death last year. Governor Taft's spokesman, Scott Milburn, says: *Ohio is a very different state to Illinois or Texas, which has a lot of executions. *Just last year we executed our first inmate in more than 30 years. *We don't have the same rate of executions that a lot of other states do. One of the reasons is there is a very lengthy and thorough judicial process these cases go through before they reach that point. *The fact that these cases do take so long means these cases are reviewed so extensively it gives the Governor a lot of confidence that every check is placed on the process. *The Governor is a death penalty supporter, but he does have a lot of confidence in the system that innocent people are not put to death. *I think the fact that the process is long is an indication of how thorough it is. This is not a kangaroo court where you are found guilty and your sentence is carried out the next day. Mr Milburn says at an educated guess it might take another three to five years before Richey's case exhausts appeals. He adds that the Governor will consider any cases very carefully, particularly if the inmate protests their innocence. *When the Governor went through the decision-making process on the last execution, it was a pretty thorough process,* he says. *He met with opponents of the death penalty and head a very long hearing to hear them out. He talked to members of the victim's family and he really listened to all sides involved. *He takes the clemency authority very, very seriously. When he decided to move forward with things he wrote a four-page explanation. *He would obviously give it that same level of thought and reflection.* ends ENDS Jennifer Veitch Deputy Features Editor <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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