August 3 OHIO: Spirko seeks another postponement of execution A man scheduled to be executed in September for the 1982 abduction and murder of the Elgin postmistress is asking another court to push back the date. John Spirko's attorneys have filed a motion Tuesday with the Ohio Supreme Court asking that his execution date be rescheduled to allow the Ohio Parole Board to hold a clemency hearing after a federal judge rules on a pending motion on a new evidence claim. Spirko is scheduled to be executed Sept. 20 for killing Betty Jane Mottinger. Mottinger disappeared from the Elgin post office Aug. 9, 1982. Her body was found a month later in a soybean field 50 miles away near the Blanchard River in Findlay, wrapped in a paint-splattered curtain. She had been stabbed multiple times. Spirko has a clemency hearing scheduled for Aug. 23. He also has a pending motion filed in U.S. District Court in Toledo where he says there is new evidence that may prove his innocence. U.S. District Judge James Carr last week refused to delay the case saying the execution is nearly two months away allowing plenty of time to consider Spirko's latest claim. In that claim, Spirko is alleging prosecutors provided misleading information that could have changed the outcome of his case. The information centers around an untried alleged accomplice and also includes statements Spirko made about the killing. Spirko became a suspect in the killing after he contacted police in October 1982 offering to trade information about her death for help on unrelated assault charges he was facing in Lucas County. Spirko, 59, is the 9th-longest serving inmate on death row. (source: Lima News) *************************************** Family united in a long fight for justice The 3 young boys in their short trousers, itchy pullovers and sporting home-made haircuts, look the picture of innocence as they stand posing for the camera. But then it was an innocent time, when children could play out on the street, cars were few and far between, danger from strangers was hardly considered by parents, and shoot 'em up with toy guns was what boys did. Fast forward 34 years and the lives of the three brothers have changed as much as society. All three quit Edinburgh to find a new life in America, the land of the free. They found it, but it was not what they had hoped. Kenny, Tom and Steven Richey are still as close as they were when the family picture was taken in 1971, when they were aged just 7, 4 and 18 months respectively. Not that they see each other often. In fact, Kenny and Tom haven't clapped eyes on each other for almost 20 years, as they are separated by the 2000 miles that lie between their American jails. Steven has seen them intermittently during visits, while the rest of his life he lives quietly with his wife Kelly in Cloverdale, Ohio. Kenny's case is well documented. The world knows him as the "innocent Scot on Death Row". Today, he turns 41 - and in a letter to the Evening News, he gives voice to his frustration and anger at his continued incarceration. He has spent 18 years behind bars in the Mansfield Correctional Institution for starting the fire which killed two-year-old Cynthia Collins. Kenny, who landed in Ohio to live with his father Jim in 1982, was blamed by the authorities and the toddler's mother, Hope, for the child's death. The judges didn't think differently. After a 4 1/2 day trial before a 3-judge panel, Kenny was sentenced to death. He has proclaimed his innocence and appealed his sentence ever since. Tom, on the other hand, has always admitted his guilt. The 38-year-old is serving a 65-year sentence which was handed down to him for murder. He shot and killed a shop assistant during a bungled robbery while he was high on LSD in 1986. The pair were jailed within months of each other - shocking their mother Eileen who still lives in Dalry, and their father Jim, who now lives in Camano Island, Washington. But from his Washington State prison, Tom Richey has been campaigning for the freedom of his older brother. His concern about Kenny's plight is such that he has now written the story of his sibling's fight for justice. His book, Kenny Richey: Death Row Scot, has just been published by Edinburgh's Black and White Publishing, and in it he tells how he and Kenny came to the States, how their lives changed for the worse, and why he believes Kenny should never have been convicted. Speaking on the phone from Clallam Bay Corrections Centre in his transatlantic twang - and with the odd word of Edinburgh dialect slipping into his speech - he says: "I have always felt in some way responsible for Kenny being found guilty. "I think there was a definite feeling that because I had committed murder, then Kenny must have as well. The prosecution even said to a Grand Jury that 'if one brother is a murderer, it's likely the other is too', but that isn't the case. "I realise people will think that I believe that because I'm his brother, but I've done a lot of research into Kenny's case and there is just no evidence to convict him. I have tried to be as unemotional as possible in my research and writing, but basically Kenny is the victim of a screwed-up justice system. "As far as I could discover he's behind bars because the prosecutor in his case was a friend of someone who disliked Kenny." In his book, Tom alleges 3 months after Kenny arrived in the States he was arrested and pleaded guilty to a count of assault and brandishing a weapon after having a street brawl with his then-girlfriend's father and 2 of his friends after they demanded he return a ring she had given to him. Unfortunately for Kenny, deputy prosecutor Randall Basinger was a friend of his ex-girlfriend's father. Kenny ended up with a two month sentence, but Tom claims at the end of this trial, Basinger said: "If you ever step out of line in my county, I'll get you." He adds though: "It's difficult to prove that he said this, but being a friend of the victim of that case is something he has never refuted. I certainly believe he carried that with him when Kenny was fighting for his life in front of him three years later." Tom admits a criminal life was what lay ahead for Kenny in Edinburgh. At 14, he smashed a shop window for alcohol, which led to breaking open parking meters, shoplifting, being drunk and disorderly, even assault. His book suggests that his parents turned a blind eye to such activities - although his dad did use the "flat side of a wooden clothes brush" as discipline - because they were consumed with their disintegrating marriage and a failing coach business. "Maybe it was because of these family problems, that Kenny, feeling neglected, misbehaved in order to gain attention. As our family foundation crumbled Steven and I never acted up, although we did turn on each other. Kenny, it seemed, turned against the world," he writes. America offered a different life, so when their dad Jim went back to Ohio, Kenny and Tom followed. The pair both joined the services - Tom the US Army, Kenny the Marines - before they ended up in jail. Tom says his early life in prison was traumatic and involved a lot of fighting - "I delivered a few Glasgow kisses and they left me alone" - and it was 4 years into his sentence before an 18-month spell in solitary confinement gave him time to think. Although he has not been able to speak to his brother since his arrest in 1986 they communicate twice weekly by letter and Kenny's persistent claims of innocence convinced him. "I did doubt him early on, but because he wouldn't plea bargain and continued to maintain his innocence I changed my mind. I believed him and I was shocked by the decision to convict him. "You imagine that the American legal system is the best in the world, but I know it's very flawed," says Tom. "Kenny is a victim of that. I'm not, I'm serving my time, but he never committed the crime for which he was convicted. "I also think there's a problem in that the court system hates to admit it's made a mistake, and then there's the fact that Kenny isn't an American - that makes it harder for him to get his story over." He adds: "I was even more shocked that the prosecutor for Ohio said that, even though new evidence might show Kenny's innocence, the US and state constitution still allowed him to be executed, which is just ridiculous. It really annoyed me because they were admitting his innocence but said 'we're going to kill him anyway'. "I actually sat down and wrote the book in 1992. It was all in longhand and later I typed it out, but it is only now I have managed to get a publisher. It has been rewritten a few times because I wanted to make sure it wasn't an emotional response, I wanted it to be based solely on all the facts which prove Kenny's innocence." Tom, who is visited by his father once a month and speaks to Steven once a month too, also hopes that both he and his brother will be freed and reunited in Scotland later this year with their mother. Kenny is awaiting retrial, but Tom could be released soon - judicial reforms in the US have seen long sentences slashed. "I don't think it will be too difficult to re-adjust to real life," he says. "I'll definitely be heading back to Edinburgh because it is home." "Kenny Richey: Death Row Scot" by Tom Richey is published by Black & White Publishing, priced 9.99 ** 'Another birthday on Death Row' ANOTHER Death Row birthday, another year of injustice. You'd think I would be used to it by now after all these years, but you'd be wrong. This is a situation you can't get used to. Yet you must endure it because obtaining justice would mean the real criminals, those who used the prosecution of my case as a step up the political ladder, would have to admit they got it wrong. As I sit in shackles in this hell-hole it is very difficult not to feel anger at the treatment I am receiving from the state of Ohio. It is hard not to recognise the cynical handling of my case and the way in which everything seems to be geared to saving the face of those involved in my prosecution and sentence. It is now obvious to me that if my release can be made to look as if it was the result of a "legal technicality" then face-saving could be achieved. But I believe the best way to prove my innocence is by retrial and at the same time lay bare the discredited forensic evidence that has so contaminated my case. If I had taken the plea-bargain offered to me 19 years ago, I would have been free nearly a decade ago. But I couldn't admit to killing a 2-year-old child whom I tried to save from the fire that killed her. I would never plead guilty to something I did not do. This is the double bind of those that are wrongly convicted: they are made to suffer more than those who are guilty. Cynthia's tragic death has been used in the most cynical of ways to advance the political ambition of those involved in this case. The lawyer who acted for me is on record as admitting he handled my case badly. He's shown integrity. However, he now appears to be carrying the can and seems to be joining Kenny Richey and Cynthia Collins on the victim list. 19 years under sentence of death for a crime I didn't commit is a soul-destroying experience. It's my birthday today but there'll be no celebration. Amnesty International has sent a card with a CD of messages from well-wishers, which gives me a small lift. But inside I'm still angry and impatient for the proper trial I've never had. Today there is nothing to celebrate. That will come on the day I'm finally freed an innocent man. Key dates in Kenny Richey's life - August 3, 1964: Kenny Richey born in Holland to American father Jim and Scottish mother Eileen. His parents settled in Edinburgh when he was a baby. - December 24, 1982: Following his parents' divorce, Kenny leaves Edinburgh to live with his father in his native Ohio in the small town of Columbus Grove. - 1984: After a stint as a photographic salesman, Kenny moves to Brainerd, Minnesota, where he meets his future wife Wendy and joins the US Marines. - Late 1985: Kenny is discharged from the Marines after suffering from depression. After his marriage fails, he returns to Columbus Grove to live with his father. - June 30, 1986: 2-year-old Cynthia Collins dies in a fire. Her mother Hope, who had left to go to a party, claimed Kenny had agreed to babysit. He denies this. - January 27, 1987: Following a 4 1/2 day trial in front of a 3-judge panel, Kenny is found guilty and sentenced to the electric chair. An appeal is lodged immediately. - March 1997: Evidence is presented to the Ohio Court of Common Pleas which his lawyers argued established his innocence. It is rejected. - 2003: By now, 13 dates had been set for Kenny Richey's execution, but all were stayed. - January 25, 2005: The 6th Circuit Federal Court of Appeal in Cincinnati overturns Kenny's death sentence after new evidence is produced. The state of Ohio is told to release him or re-try his case within 90 days. - June 30, 2005: Ohio's Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers announces that his office would seek a re-trial in Kenny's case. An appeal against the overturning of his sentence is also lodged with the Supreme Court. - July 23, 2005: An Ohio court orders Kenny to be moved from death row to a low security county jail. - July 28, 2005: The courts decide to keep Kenny on death row until October. (source: Edinburgh Evening News) KENTUCKY: State to seek death penalty for Flick----SHOOTING DESCRIBED IN VIVID DETAIL Randall Lambirth came home from the hospital May 20, ready for his birthday dinner with his girlfriend four days after surgery to remove his gallbladder. Lambirth walked into his kitchen and found place settings on the table. The oven door was open, 2 casserole dishes inside. His girlfriend, Christina Wittich, lay dead on the kitchen floor, fatally shot. As Lambirth turned, he saw Michael Joseph Flick pointing a gun at him. Lambirth recounted the events of his birthday at a court hearing yesterday. During the hearing, a judge revoked Flick's bond and sent him back to jail. Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson also said yesterday the state will seek the death penalty against Flick. Flick and Lambirth were former co-workers at a Lexington optometry office. After seeing the gun, Lambirth said, he crawled under the kitchen table. When Flick shot him in the right arm, Lambirth threw the table toward Flick. Lambirth's brother, Chris, came in, and the 2 restrained Flick until police arrived. As Flick writhed on the floor, he said, "Let me up. You don't know what you've done to me. Just kill me," Lambirth recalled. Flick, 34, is charged with Wittich's murder, the attempted murder of Lambirth and burglary. He was released on a $200,000 cash bond May 26. Police originally charged him with murder and assault. Flick went to Boone County with an electronic ankle bracelet to monitor his location. He was prohibited from returning to Fayette County except for court appearances. But Fayette Circuit Judge Mary C. Noble said yesterday that when a grand jury changed the assault charge to attempted murder and added the burglary charge, that created aggravated circumstances for the state to seek the death penalty against Flick. Noble ordered Flick back into custody in Fayette County at least until further hearings, probably next week. She said facing the death penalty may cause Flick to retaliate against Lambirth or eliminate any evidence against him. "Bond cannot be taken arbitrarily from the defendant," Noble said. In a death penalty case, "there is a difference in what the defendant might be compelled to do." Flick's attorney, Jim Lowry, argued Flick should remain free on bond because he had made every scheduled court appearance -- including yesterday's -- and had not attempted to flee. Lowry declined further comment after the hearing. Lambirth bought Flick's LensCrafters optometry practice at Lexington Green and took over Sept. 1, 2003. Flick remained at the office as Lambirth's employee. Wittich started work that same day as an office manager, Lambirth said. Lambirth testified yesterday that Flick became unhappy working there. He said he offered Flick Saturdays off to tend to his sick father. When that didn't appease Flick, Lambirth said, he fired him Nov. 17, 2004. Flick filed a lawsuit against Lambirth in March claiming breach of contract and seeking more than $100,000 in salary. Lambirth said he hadn't seen Flick since the day he fired him. Lambirth testified yesterday that Flick was in his home on Landridge Drive about 7 p.m. May 20. The garage door was up, and the door into the kitchen was unlocked, he said. Wittich, 28, had been fatally shot, once in the side and once in the back. Flick was treated at the University of Kentucky Medical Center for wounds to his face received during the struggle with Lambirth. Lexington police Detective Matt Brotherton testified yesterday that Flick gave police conflicting reports about what happened May 20. The night of the murder, Brotherton said, Flick told him Lambirth and his brother abducted him in his car and took him to the house on Landridge. But, Brotherton testified, no papers or boxes in Flick's car appeared to be disturbed in a struggle. Flick said he shot Lambirth and Wittich to defend himself, Brotherton said. The next day, Brotherton said, Flick told police he couldn't remember any details about the night before. Another story emerged when Flick told Danielle Wood, a friend from optometry school, that he had gone to Lambirth's home to try to resolve their lawsuit, Brotherton said. Brotherton said the gun police found at the scene had been reported stolen by Danielle and Chris Wood in January. Flick had keys to their home to check the mail when they were away, Brotherton said. (source: Herald-Leader) NORTH CAROLINA: Cold-case unit closes book on '87 murder----Already on death row, man gets life sentence for killing cashier, 19 Terry Alvin Hyatt, on North Carolina's death row for robbing, raping and killing 2 women, pleaded guilty Tuesday to murdering another woman 18 years ago and was sentenced to life in prison. Hyatt pleaded guilty to the 1987 murder of 19-year-old Jerri Ann Jones, who was abducted in Charlotte as she waited for a ride after work. It was the first conviction for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's homicide cold case squad since it was set up in 2003. 13 other murder suspects charged in cold cases are awaiting trial. "We've had an opportunity to work some important cases that have brought closure to several families that's been long overdue," homicide detective David Phillips said Tuesday. Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against Hyatt if he confessed to Jones' murder, told what happened to the teenager and pleaded guilty to 1st-degree murder. The deal called for Hyatt to get a life sentence. Hyatt, 48, is on death row for the 1979 robberies, rapes and murders in Buncombe County of 21-year-old Betty Sue McConnell and 40-year-old Harriet Delaney Simmons. During Tuesday's hearing, Julia Tharrington, Simmons' daughter, called her mother's killer a monster. "I'm just sorry he can't be killed more than once," Tharrington told Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge David Cayer. J.R. Jones told reporters outside the courthouse that he is satisfied with the life sentence Hyatt got for his daughter's murder. "I would have liked to see him get the death penalty," Jones, 58, said. "But you can't kill him 3 times. "He'll never get out of prison." Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorney Marsha Goodenow told the judge during Tuesday's hearing that Jones' murder was solved after DNA on a cigarette butt found next to the victim and semen inside her mouth were linked to Hyatt. On July 8, 1987, Jones had finished her shift as a Harris Teeter cashier on North Graham Street and Sugar Creek Road and was waiting for a ride from a boyfriend. She wasn't seen alive again. 2 days later, police found her naked body about a mile away. Her throat had been slit. She also had been stabbed in the chest and beaten with a tree limb. Hyatt was arrested in 1999 for the 2 murders that happened 20 years earlier. In April 1979, Harriet Simmons left her job in Raleigh and headed to Nashville, Tenn., to visit a friend. She never showed up. Her car, with a suitcase and thermos still inside, was found at a rest stop west of Statesville. About a year later, her skull and skeleton were discovered in Buncombe County. Four months after Simmons' disappearance, Betty Sue McConnell disappeared in Buncombe County. She had called her mother to say she was leaving work and heading to an Asheville bowling alley to meet a friend. The next morning, she showed up soaking wet and gasping for breath in an Asheville couple's driveway. She said she'd been stabbed and thrown in a nearby river. She later died of the 5 stab wounds to her chest. Twenty years later Hyatt was charged with 1979 murders of McConnell and Simmons. He's been on death row since his murder convictions in 2000. Goodenow told the Observer the cold case squad should give hope to families of victims whose murders are unsolved. "If it wasn't for the cold case squad that reopened the investigation and asked for DNA testing, Jerri Jones' murder would have never been solved," Goodenow said. "The Police Department's crime lab was instrumental in solving this case. It got the DNA match." (source: Charlotte Observer) ALABAMA: Jury tours crime scene in Moore trial, hears about autopsies Jurors in the capital murder trial of Devin Darnell Moore toured the crime scene Tuesday where Moore allegedly shot and killed two Fayette officers and a dispatcher in June 2003. Moore, 20, is charged with killing Fayette officers Arnold Strickland, 55, and James Crump, 40, and dispatcher Leslie "Ace" Mealer, 38. He allegedly stole Strickland's gun on June 7, 2003 while being booked on a stolen auto charge and used it to shoot the victims before fleeing the police station. Lawyers for Moore argue that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being abused and neglected as a child. The defense also claims that Moore committed the murders after obsessively playing the video game "Grand Theft Auto." Prosecutors argue that Moore knew exactly what he was doing and shot the victims to escape and avoid jail time. Department of Forensic Sciences officials testified Tuesday about autopsies of the victims. The pathologist who conducted the autopsies, John Glenn, was unable to testify for health reasons. Defense attorney Jim Standridge objected to their testimonies and argued during cross-examination that they were only reading from Glenn's notes. Pathology technician Michael Brown, who was present at the autopsy, incorrectly identified the bullet's point of entry while testifying about Crump's head wound, The Tuscaloosa News reported. He later admitted his mistake and said he wrongly referred to notes about Mealer's wound, not Crump's. Testimony earlier in the trial about Crump's wounds suggested an account of the crime that conflicted with Moore's signed statement. In the statement, Moore said he panicked, grabbed the gun and shot the victims until they "fell to the floor." But Alabama Bureau of Investigation agent Darren Blake testified that crime scene photos indicated Moore shot Crump through the head while the officer was already down, bleeding from multiple other gunshot wounds. Pathologist Adam Craig presented and interpreted Glenn's report on the three victims on Tuesday, placing wire markers in mannequins to demonstrate the wound tracks. Craig testified that all 3 victims sustained multiple gunshot wounds that would have been fatal. Upon cross-examination, Craig admitted he was not present for the autopsies and based his testimony on Glenn's notes. (source: The Tuscaloosa News)
