, entitled "US state Ohio to retry U.S.-British citizen who faced
death penalty for deadly fire." Greg Sowinski has
, entitled "Death row Briton to face retrial." Scottish TV has a brief video clip
.
AP excerpt:
...Leo Jennings, a spokesman for the attorney general, said no decisions
have been made on the exact charges on which to try Richey or whether the state
would seek the death penalty.
Lawyer Ken Parsigian, who now represents Richey but did not at his original
trial, said the state's case will be tough to prove 21 years later. Witnesses
have died, become incapacitated or cannot be found, he said.
"This is kind of an odd decision," Parsigian said. "Their case has gotten
dramatically weaker and ours has gotten dramatically stronger."
Richey came within an hour of being executed 13 years ago.
Lima News excerpt:
Prosecutors will retry Kenneth Richey and seek the
death penalty for the 1986 fire death of a 2-year-old girl, prosecutors
announced Friday. Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers said he will retry the
case against Richey on the original charges of aggravated murder, aggravated
arson and child endangering. He could have appealed a ruling that overturned
the case to the U.S. Supreme Court but opposed that option, fearing it would
not be successful.
“It was kind of pick your poison now or later,” he
said. “(Ohio deputy attorney generals) thought we were mainly postponing the
inevitable. You can try it now or you can try it a year from now.”
...The next step is to get the paperwork
from the federal court and began the process of preparing for a trial. Parsigian
said the federal court will issue the paperwork Tuesday and he has requested
Richey be returned to Putnam County — he’s now at Mansfield Correctional
Institution — within a week.
Parsigian then will seek bail, he
said.
When asked about the possibility of a plea negotiation, Lammers
said he has not offered anything but wouldn’t rule it out,
either.
“Anything is an option. Anything is possible,” he
said.
Parsigian said Richey has been adamant about not accepting a plea
and wants to go to trial to prove his innocence, something he has maintained
throughout. But Parsigian said if Richey is given a deal for time served he
will recommend Richey take it, walk out of prison and hit the talk-show circuit
in Scotland proclaiming his innocence.
“Here’s your life that is right
there. All you have to do is reach out and grab it. Twenty one years on death
row and you can have your life back. But if I ever met anyone who might just do
it, it would be Kenny,” Parsigian said.
As far as seeking the death
penalty, Parsigian called it “vindictive.”
“If they do seek it we are
very confident we will win the case and we are even more confident there will
not be a death penalty,” he said.
Neither attorney knew exactly when a
retrial would take place, but it will be sometime early next
year.
Lammers will be joined by deputy attorney generals who are experts
in death penalty cases, he said.
Parsigian said it’s likely his team will
seek a change of venue in hopes of moving the case out of Putnam County. He said
the publicity surrounding the case would affect Richey’s ability to have a fair
trial.
Toledo Blade excerpt:
The Ohio attorney general's office and Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers are now on the same page as they proceed with plans to retry Kenneth Richey in the 1986 death of a 2-year-old Columbus Grove girl.
After meeting in Putnam County and engaging in "close discussions" with members of the victim's family, they announced yesterday they will proceed with previously reported plans to retry Richey instead of appealing the federal ruling overturning the 43-year-old Scot's conviction and death sentence.
The attorney general's office will assist in the prosecution, said Leo Jennings, spokesman for State Attorney General Marc Dann.
"We appreciated the chance to go up and meet with the prosecutor to talk about the legal ramifications and alternatives, and we've come to an agreement on how to proceed," Mr. Jennings said.
...Mr. Lammers had requested the meeting after the attorney general's office went public with its plans before getting him on board.
...It remains to be seen how the state will cope with 21-year-old arson evidence on the second go-round, as well as the death of one witness and the illness of another.
The attorney general's office has said it believes the U.S. Supreme Court would be unlikely to hear a second appeal in the case. Instead, the court has focused on proceeding to Richey's retrial with the assumption that he would be transferred to the Putnam County jail in the meantime.
U.S. District Court in Toledo has yet to issue a formal order starting the 90-day clock for the state to retry or release Richey.
For now, Richey remains at Mansfield Correctional Institution, the maximum-security prison that formerly housed Ohio's death row. ...
