Talk:List of revoked death sentences
Different name?
[edit]"List of reversed death sentences" seems an odd turn of phrase; any other suggestions that would embrace exoneration, pardoning or commutation? David Kernow 01:15, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
Kenneth T. Richey Removal
[edit]Removed section read:
Ohio
[edit]- Kenneth T. Richey, convicted 1987, overturned by 6th Circuit Court of Appeals 2005
- Reference Drew, James (Jan 26, 2005). Death penalty and conviction of Briton tossed; blaze killed Columbus Grove girl in 1986. Toledoblade.com, online. :Reference Richey vs. Mitchell. No. 01-3477, 2005 (6th Cir. Jan 25, 2005). Retrieved 2005-02-26.
Update:
In November 2005, the United States Supreme Court reversed a lower federal appeals court, reinstated Richey's death sentence and remanded his case back to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals for further consideration. Therefore, Richey (at present) has not had his death sentence revoked.
In 1987, Kenneth T. Richey was tried in Ohio for aggravated murder committed in the course of a felony. Evidence showed that respondent set fire to the apartment of his neighbor, Hope Collins, in an attempt to kill his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, who were spending the night together in the apartment below. The intended victims escaped unharmed, but Hope Collins’ 2-year-old daughter Cynthia died in the fire. At trial, the State presented evidence of Richey’s intent to kill his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, but not of specific intent to kill Cynthia Collins. The State also offered expert forensic evidence to show that the fire had been started deliberately.
Richey did not contest this forensic evidence at trial because his retained arson expert had reported that the State’s evidence conclusively established arson. He was convicted of aggravated felony murder on a theory of transferred intent and sentenced to death.
Richey sought postconviction relief in state court which denied his request for an evidentiary hearing and denied relief on all claims, and the state appellate court affirmed. Then he sought federal habeas relief. The District Court permitted discovery on certain issues, but ultimately denied all of respondent’s claims. The Sixth Circuit reversed, holding that he was entitled to habeas relief on two alternative grounds. First, that transferred intent was not a permissible theory for aggravated felony murder under Ohio law, and that the evidence of direct intent was constitutionally insufficient to support conviction. Second, that the performance of his trial counsel had been constitutionally deficient.
The state was ordered to free him or retry him.
Ohio appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the Sixth Circuit ignored a constitutionally valid state law and thus overstepped its authority.
The Ohio Supreme Court’s “explanation of Ohio law was perfectly clear and unambiguous. We have repeatedly held that a state court’s interpretation of state law … binds a federal court sitting in habeas corpus,” the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in November 2005.
It remanded the case to the Sixth Circuit for reconsideration in light of the new instructions.