July 7
OHIO:
Don't forget the victim
The state of Ohio faces tough legal obstacles in seeking to retry death
row inmate Kenny Richey in connection with a 1986 fatal fire in Columbus
Grove, Ohio. Much of the evidence was shaky to begin with, and some
witnesses have either died or are in no condition to testify in a new
trial.
Nonetheless, Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers has made the correct
decision to seek new charges from a grand jury and put Richey on trial
again. To do otherwise would be to disrespect the death of Cynthia
Collins, who was only 2 years old when she perished in the fire.
Crime victims often are lost in the shuffle of long-running court cases,
and this one is a good example.
The girl died in an upstairs apartment fire that prosecutors contended was
set by Richey in a failed attempt to kill his former girlfriend and her
new boyfriend, who were in an apartment below.
Despite his claims of innocence, Richey was convicted of aggravated murder
and arson and was sentenced to die. Both a state appeals court and the
Ohio Supreme Court subsequently agreed.
But in January of this year the conviction finally was overturned by a
federal appeals court, which ordered Richey freed from prison or retried.
The court ruled that the state had failed to prove that Richey intended to
kill the girl, a key finding necessary to invoke the death penalty at that
time. The court also held that Richey's lawyer was so incompetent that he
failed to challenge obviously questionable evidence of arson.
A new trial should put those questions to rest and demonstrate the guilt
or innocence of Richey, a British subject who became an international
cause celebre during his years on death row.
In 1992 the European Parliament approved a resolution asking that Richey's
life be spared. British lawmakers intervened, and Pope John Paul II made
an appeal on his behalf.
Because of the wide interest, The Blade investigated the case thoroughly
and, in 1998, we concluded that a full review of the evidence was merited
in federal court.
The wheels of justice turn slowly - 19 years in this case - but it is not
too late to set the record straight.
The memory of Cynthia Collins demands it.
(source: Editorial, Toledo Blade)
