The sad stuff.

[thecesspit]

I was going to right a nice happy post to break the monotony of news comments about death and murder.

But first, after checking back a year, I realised I hadn't seen what had happened to Kenny Richey since his release after 21 years on death row.

Not good, I'm afraid : The man who can't escape death row. He's unemployed, been in the cells twice

Comments

[sauce1977]

This is the first I've heard about Kenny Richey, or at least, if I did hear about him, I totally forgot.

The 'no contest' plea is almost an admission of guilt. I think they had this case right the first time, going over the evidence against him, vs. the defense's evidence of innocence.

[thecesspit]

The No contest plea was used to get the case over with... Kenny had several offers of sentence reduction if he changed his plea. The case went back to court after serious problems in the prosecution, and the later forensic evidence on the smoke detector make me think the case was badly investigated at best.

The biggest single problem I have with the whole case is this quote from the Ohio state prosecutor Dan Gershutz:

"Even though this new evidence may establish Mr. Richey's innocence, the Ohio and United States Constitutions nonetheless allow him to be executed because the prosecution did not know that the scientific testimony offered at trial was false and unreliable."

[sauce1977]

So you believe the mother blamed Kenny in an attempt to divert attention from her negligence?

[thecesspit]

I believe that Kenny didn't start a fire with a broken hand, or disable a smoke alarm (which resulted in the death penalty sentencing).

I don't really know what Cynthia's mother motivations were. My gut reaction is a child wasn't properly looked after, a fire started and she died. Whether that neglect was a drunken Kenny's or abscence of her mother or a combination, I'm not sure.

I am pretty sure that Kenny didn't deserve to a homicide charge.