Jan. 30
UNITED KINGDOM:
The decision by appeal court judges in America to overturn the murder
conviction of Kenny Richey - the Scot who has served 18 years on death row
- followed a personal intervention by Tony Blair. The involvement of the
prime minister and Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, is said to have had
a significant influence on the way the case was handled.
Blair's concerns were raised with American justice department officials
and with Bob Taft, the governor of Ohio, where Richey was convicted.
A federal court in Cincinnati ruled that Richey, 40, who was convicted in
1987 of the killing of 2-year-old Cynthia Collins in an arson attack, must
be retried within 90 days or freed because he received incompetent
representation at his trial.
"It said that the trial court's handling of the case undermined our
confidence in the reliability of Richey's conviction and sentence." The
flaws in the prosecution case were highlighted in an "amicus brief," a
legal document prepared and lodged with the court by the British
government. It followed a personal pledge last year by Blair in the House
of Commons to look into the case.
The document drew attention to the fact that he had been convicted of an
offence that had not existed at the time the alleged crime was committed.
Last week the appeal court cited the mistake and said that Richey's
original legal team had not adequately challenged the state
investigator^^s handling of the case.
In the letter to Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP who led a
campaign against Richey^^s conviction, Blair pledged to "continue to
oppose the death penalty on his behalf at every appropriate opportunity."
The letter was shown to Taft and other state officials involved in the
case. At the same time Taft was being lobbied at the government's request
by Andrew Seaton, Britain's consul general in Chicago.
Baroness Symons, a minister in Straw's department, co-ordinated the
campaign.
Ken Parsigian, Richey's current lawyer, said: "If Tony Blair is saying he
wants you to take a hard look at the case, then maybe you think, I'd
better put this at the top of the pile or spend a few extra minutes
reading the transcript." Donald McName, Cynthia Collins's grandfather,
said his family was disappointed by the ruling, which he believes may have
been the result of pressure from the British government.
"What can we do? We don't have any authority. Am I going to tell the court
what they ought to do? We just have to accept it as it is. It's really
just out of our hands," he said.
Parsigian said he believed it was highly unlikely that Ohio state
prosecutors would seek to retry his client.
(source: The Sunday Times)
