Death row campaigner MacDonald 'nervous' ahead of Richey's retrial

Published on Sunday 2 September 2007 00:06

A LEADING supporter of a Scot who has spent more than 20 years on death row in the US yesterday said she was "nervous" after hearing he will be retried.

Kenny Richey's conviction for murder over a fire that killed a two-year-old girl in Ohio was overturned last month.

A local prosecutor has decided the Edinburgh-raised former US marine should stand trial, rather than be released, after discussing the case with the victim's family.

The 43-year-old, who was born to a Scottish mother and an American father, has always claimed he is innocent.

Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald said: "I know his lawyer believes the case against Kenny has weakened over the years and the case in his favour has strengthened, but I'm still just a bit nervous about the process in Ohio."

MacDonald, who has campaigned on Richey's behalf for several years, is concerned that the case could have repercussion for other convictions from the time.

"I'm particularly aware of the very suspect nature of the forensic evidence that convicted Kenny," she added.

"If the procedure followed and the tests used at the time are found to have been woefully inadequate, even according to the standards of the time, that would apply to all services from the department of the Ohio justice system that operated that particular part of the process. I think that most people could then see how the decisions of that whole era could be called into question, not just Kenny's case.

"That and the death or disappearance of witnesses does I think make for more uncertainty than I would like."

However, lawyer Ken Parsigian, who now represents Richey but did not at his original trial, believes 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, who has dual citizenship, came within an hour of being executed 13 years ago.

Prosecutors said Richey started the 1986 blaze in Columbus Grove in north-west Ohio to get even with his former girlfriend, who lived in the same apartment building as the girl who died.

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.

John Watson, Amnesty International's programme director for Scotland, said: "If the state of Ohio thinks they have evidence against a man they have every right to hold a trial just as with anyone else.

"But from our reading of the evidence it is hard to see how they could have a case against him.

"The key thing is that last time he was treated shoddily - this time the standards have to be higher."