'Death Row's Richey reprieved', Sky News Online

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

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Sky Reporter Met Reprieved Death Row's Richey, By James Silver

Mansfield, Ohio, is a drab and depressing little town. It mainly consists of prefabricated buildings, a shopping mall, cheap housing and at least fifty churches.

Its only real significance is that it is home to Mansfield Correctional Institution, which provided the Gothic backdrop to the hit movie The Shawshank Redemption.

Among the state of Ohio's 186 death row prisoners incarcerated there until recently was Scottish-born Kenny Richey.

But now Richey - who had been on Death Row since 1986 for an arson attack which left a two-year-old girl dead - is set to be freed.

His conviction was overturned on appeal last August, when he was moved to Putnam County Jail in Ottawa, Ohio.

He has now agreed a plea bargain, which could see him released later this week.

Five years ago, I went to interview him on Death Row for a radio documentary and The Observer newspaper.

First, I met his father, Jim Richey, in the prison car-park.

Jim had driven 3,000 miles from the Pacific North West to visit him.

As the midday sun scorched the tarmac, the rolls of razor wire around the prison fences cast jagged shadows.

"The area beyond the razor wire is known as the Death Zone," he told me, pointing at a 'no-man's land' covered in loose gravel, surrounding the prison.

"Guards have the right immediately to fire on anyone in there and fire with intent to kill."

The worst part, he continued, was that he hadn't been able to touch his son for 16 years.

Family visits were conducted in a tiny cubicle, through a plate glass window.

Reporters, however, once cleared in writing by the warden, were allowed to interview prisoners face-to-face.

Inside, after being searched and driven by guards on a buggy, I reached the building - a fortress, really - in which the Death Row prisoners were held.

I passed through two more heavy doors which thudded shut behind me and was led into a small room in which I waited for Richey.

An armed guard sat in the corner, reading the bible.

I heard the clank of his chains before I saw him.

He was shackled at the ankles and wrists. Every step looked painful.

As he sat down, he looked gaunt. His hair was shaved close.

I remember noting at the time that, as if through sheer will-power, he had retained his Scottish accent, despite more than two-and-a-half decades in America.

It became immediately apparent that Richey, who had always protested his innocence, was a man simmering with rage.

"I get very agitated at times," he told me.

"I have severe mood swings. I'm full of hostility and rage. I'm bitter - extremely bitter. I shouldn't be here but I am. After all this time it builds up on you till you're about ready to explode."

Thirteen years ago, Richey came within an hour of the electric chair - the use of which has since been abolished by the state of Ohio and replaced by lethal injection.

He had written his goodbye letters to his family. His head and legs were shaved in preparation.

But he was given a last-minute reprieve.

"I was ready to go," he said. "I'd said my goodbyes, told my mum I loved her. I was ready."

State prosecutors successfully argued that on June 30, 1986, Richey, in a drink-fuelled frenzy, started a fire in an apartment in Columbus Grove, Ohio, to kill his ex-girlfriend, believing she was sleeping with her new lover in the apartment below.

Toddler Cynthia Collins, who had been left home alone, died in the blaze.

Richey - the only suspect - was arrested and charged with arson, aggravated murder and child endangerment.

Over the years the case against him - always flawed - has unravelled.

Amnesty International described it as "the most compelling case of innocence we have come across on America's death row".

The Pope, Hollywood stars and numerous politicians have campaigned for his release.

After our interview, before he shuffled off down the corridor again, back to his cell, a despairing Richey said: "I've lost most of my life".

They were harrowing words; impossible to forget.

Posted by James Silver - On Wednesday, December 19, 2007

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