Kenneth Richey

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	22
Year Crime:	1986
Year Convicted:	1987
Year Cleared:	2005
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Ohio
County or Region of Crime:	Putnam
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Kenneth Richey was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in 1987 of murdering a two-year old in 1986 by starting a fire. Waived right to trial by jury, and a three-judge panel in Putnam County Common Pleas Court convicted Richey in 1987 of aggravated felony murder based on false and unreliable expert testimony about the nature of the fire. Prosecutors claimed that the girl died during Richey's attempt to kill his ex-girlfriend. However, by 1996 forensic analysis of fire origins and burn patterns had advanced to the point that experts concurred that the fire was either the result of an accident, or caused by the child. After a March 21, 1997 evidentiary hearing, Richey was denied a new trial, in the face of the prosecution's opposition, even though they conceded he might be innocent: '"Even though this new evidence may establish Mr. Richey's innocence, the Ohio and United States constitution nonetheless allow him to be executed because the prosecution did not know that the scientific testimony offered at the trial was false and unreliable." Richey was a British citizen, and there was world wide support for the vacating of his conviction. Among others, support came from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Pope, the late Cardinal Thomas Winning, the European Parliament and Amnesty International. On January 25, 2005, the Federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati vacated Kenneth Richey's conviction on the grounds that his trial was fundamentally unfair because of ineffective assistance of counsel, and ordered that he either be retried within 90 days or released. In its 26-page ruling, the Court stated, "Because constitutional errors have undermined our confidence in the reliability of Richey's conviction and sentence, we reverse the decision." Richey was granted 13 stays of execution, including one when he was one hour away from being executed. Released in January 2008 when he pled guilty to lesser charges."
Conviction Caused By:	False and unreliable expert testimony about the nature of the fire.
Innocence Proved By:	"Conviction vacated by Federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.on January 25, 2005, on grounds that Richey's trial was fundamentally unfair due to ineffective assistance of counsel."
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	22
Age When Released:	40
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Briton has conviction quashed after 18 years on Ohio death row, From Elaine Monaghan in Washington and Shirley English, The Times (London, UK), January 26, 2005"
Information Location 1:	"http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1456650,00.html"
Information Source 2:	"Appeals Court Questions Ohio Law Applied In Death Penalty Case, AP, Cincinnati Post, April 29, 2004."
Information Location 2:	http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/04/29/deathpenalty.html
Information Source 3:	"Child Killer's Death Penalty Overturned, Associated Press, NY Times, January 25, 2005."
Information Location 3:	http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Death-Sentence-Overturned.html?oref=login
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Kenneth Richey

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

22

Year Crime:

1986

Year Convicted:

1987

Year Cleared:

2005

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Ohio

County or Region of Crime:

Putnam

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

False and unreliable expert testimony about the nature of the fire.

Innocence Proved By:

"Conviction vacated by Federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.on January 25, 2005, on grounds that Richey's trial was fundamentally unfair due to ineffective assistance of counsel."

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

22

Age When Released:

40

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Briton has conviction quashed after 18 years on Ohio death row, From Elaine Monaghan in Washington and Shirley English, The Times (London, UK), January 26, 2005"

Information Location 1:

"http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1456650,00.html"

Information Source 2:

"Appeals Court Questions Ohio Law Applied In Death Penalty Case, AP, Cincinnati Post, April 29, 2004."

Information Location 2:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/04/29/deathpenalty.html

Information Source 3:

"Child Killer's Death Penalty Overturned, Associated Press, NY Times, January 25, 2005."

Information Location 3:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Death-Sentence-Overturned.html?oref=login

Information Source 4:

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