July 25
OHIO:
Straw to back Death Row appeal
Jack Straw is preparing to intervene in a move that could help save
condemned Scot Kenny Richey from execution in America.
Scotland on Sunday can reveal that, after almost 2 decades on death row,
Richey is set to finally receive official backing from the British
government.
In what would be a major breakthrough in the long-running case, the
Foreign Secretary is planning to make a submission to the judges
considering Richey's appeal against his conviction for starting a fire
that killed a 2-year-old girl in 1986.
More than 200 MPs and MSPs have already backed Richey's case, but the
government has so far resisted demands for it to support his appeal with
an Amicus Curiae - "friend of the court" - brief, setting out the UK's
official objections to the death penalty in general and Richey's
conviction in particular.
The amicus curiae system allows people who are not directly affected by a
case, but who believe that their opinion might influence the court, to
intervene and put their views across.
Ministers have now revealed that they have been in discussion with
Richey's legal team after a request for help. Foreign Office lawyers are
now in the final stages of compiling the document, which Richey's team
believes would swing the verdict his way.
Foreign Office spokesmen last night refused to confirm the impending
official intervention in Richey's case. But one minister in the
department, Chris Mullin, conceded that the department is "carefully
considering the recent request for the government to submit [a brief] in
Mr Richey's case, and we are consulting his trial lawyers about that. We
take into account factors such as whether our intervention would assist
and the nature of the legal issues involved."
A Foreign Office insider went further, saying only "technical issues" had
to be resolved before the paper was completed and submitted.
Richey's support team claimed the brief, to be lodged with the Ohio
supreme court judges, would represent his "biggest breakthrough in years".
One of the condemned mans allies said. "The signs are that Straw is
listening and if he puts his foot in, that will mean the judges in America
can't just dismiss Kenny out of hand."
Clive Stafford Smith, the British human-rights lawyer who is in charge of
Richey's case, visited Edinburgh and Westminster last month to urge
politicians to back the appeal. More than 150 MPs have supported a motion
calling for the government to get involved.
Scotland on Sunday understands the case the case being compiled by the
Foreign Office goes "far beyond" a simple restatement of the government's
opposition to the death penalty. It amounts to a point-by-point summary of
concerns about the conduct of the case - but stops short of backing
campaigners who claim Richey is innocent.
"We are aware of concerns about how the original trial was conducted and
about the safety of the conviction, not just the decision to impose the
death penalty on Kenny Richey," a Foreign Office insider said last night.
"It is perfectly legitimate for us to make these points clear to the
courts that are dealing with this issue without expressing any view about
the innocence or guilt of the man involved."
Richey, the son of an American father and Scottish mother, grew up in
Edinburgh but emigrated to the US in 1981. He was sentenced to death after
being convicted of starting a fire that killed 2-year-old Cynthia Collins,
the daughter of his ex-girlfriend.
The prosecution alleged Richey used petrol and paint thinners to set fire
to the apartment below the toddler's bedroom in a bid to kill her mother,
Hope Collins, and her new boyfriend.
However, experts have since cast doubt over the forensic tests used to
decide the fire was arson. They argue the fire was accidental, most likely
caused by a discarded cigarette, or even by Cynthia herself, who had a
history of starting fires.
The human rights group Amnesty International claims his is "the most
compelling case of innocence on death row".
Richey has continually protested his innocence and refused a plea bargain
before his trial, which would have seen him freed from prison after
serving 10 years.
British ministers have consistently been accused of moving too slowly to
support the cases of death-row Britons, but they have also struggled to
convince US counterparts of their arguments in the past.
Jack Straw's junior minister, Baroness Symons, has told campaigners that
the government has drawn up a "comprehensive lobbying strategy, taking
into account the possible outcomes of Mr Richey's appeal".
Mullin added: "The British consul general recently raised our concern and
interest in Mr Richey's case with the Governor of Ohio, Bob Taft, and
informed him that if Mr Richeys appeal for a retrial is successful, we
will lobby him further on Mr Richey's behalf."
(source: Scotland on Sunday)
