Kill me or release me, pleads death row Scot

[Champ]

KENNY Richey, the Scot who has spent more than 17 years on death row in the United States, said yesterday he would rather kill himself than spend any more time in prison.

Richey, who was born in Edinburgh, was sentenced to death after being convicted of arson and the aggravated murder of a two-year-old girl in Ohio in 1986. Last week, his case was highlighted by Amnesty, an international charity, in its annual report.

It said Richey's situation was one of the most compelling cases of apparent innocence human rights campaigners had ever seen.

Richey, who has maintained his innocence throughout his trial and death row wait, told a Sunday newspaper he would rather be executed than spend any more time in jail.
He told The Sunday Post: "I want them to kill me. Kill me or release me. If they don't do it to me then I'll do it myself.
"Or I'll create a situation in here where they will get the chance to kill me."

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/17095.html

[graham67]

1. Here's a pic...

from the Ohio DRC offender database

[graham67]

2. From amnesty international

Kenneth Richey, who lived in the UK until he was 17-years-old, when he moved to the USA, was sentenced to death in Ohio in 1987 for the murder of two-year-old Cynthia Collins. He was tried before a three-judge panel after his attorneys advised him that he might not get a fair trial before a jury whose passions could be inflamed by the killing of a child.

At trial, the prosecution based its theory of the crime on "transferred intent": that Richey formed the intent to kill his former girlfriend and/or her new boyfriend by setting a fire in the apartment above the one where they were staying. That apartment was the home of Hope Collins and her child Cynthia, who had been left alone in the apartment that night. The prosecution conceded that there was no evidence that Richey intended to kill Cynthia Collins and that he made several attempts to save her during the fire, but was beaten back by flames and smoke.

The authorities originally concluded that the fire was started accidentally by an electric fan, but at trial the Assistant Fire Marshall testified that it was started deliberately by igniting paint thinner and gasoline on the carpet. Richey's attorneys failed to have their own forensic tests carried out. In 1996, arson experts far more qualified than those who testified at the trial examined the laboratory reports and concluded that the original findings were based on "unsound scientific principles that are not accepted in the forensic science community for the investigation of arson-related fires" and that the fire was probably caused by the careless discarding of smoking materials.

Another possible cause of the fire was Cynthia Collins herself. Richey's court-appointed attorney was aware that the young girl had a history of playing with lighters, cigarettes and matches and had caused a fire on at least three occasions. Although a neighbour had earlier told him about Cynthia's fascination with fire, the attorney neglected to raise the issue during his cross-examination at trial. The lawyer has since admitted that his representation of Richey was inadequate.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/rightsforall/dp/innocence/innocent-5.html