Former death row inmate Kenny Richey pleads not guilty to threatening judge

A SCOTSMAN released from a U.S. prison after spending two decades on death row has pleaded not guilty to threatening a judge who prosecuted his original case.

Forty-seven-year-old Kenny Richey appeared in an Ohio court Wednesday on charges of retaliation and violating a civil protection order. A judge said he would be held without bond and face trial in May.

Authorities say Richey left a threatening phone message at the courthouse in Ottawa, where he was sentenced nearly 25 years ago to death.

He was released four years ago under a plea deal after a federal court overturned his sentence. He’d been convicted of starting a fire that killed a toddler.

Richey had been living in Mississippi and was arrested there last week.