Retrial hopes for death row Scot

Kenny Richey has always denied starting a fatal fire

A Scot who has spent more than 20 years on death row in the US is expected to face a retrial after his conviction was overturned for a second time.

Kenny Richey was sentenced to death in 1987 after he was convicted of starting a fire which killed a child in Ohio.

The 43-year-old has always protested his innocence.

Prosecutors are understood to have ruled out appealing against the overturning of the sentence and Richey could face a retrial within 90 days.

Until then it is expected he will be transferred to an ordinary county jail and could apply for bail until the trial begins.

I hope that when they weigh all the factors they will conclude that it is time to walk away and let Kenny start living the rest of his life right now Ken Parsigian Richey's lawyer Kenny Richey: Serving time

The legal team representing the former US Marine, originally from Edinburgh, said they had been preparing for a retrial for two decades.

The Sixth Circuit Federal Court of Appeal in Cincinnati overturned Richey's death sentence for a second time on 10 August.

State prosecutors could have gone to the US Supreme Court to try to have that decision overturned, but they are understood to have decided to stage a new trial instead.

Reprieve, which fights for prisoners on death row, said it was hopeful the conviction would be overturned.

Legal director Clive Stafford Smith, who has assisted Richey's case for almost two decades, said: "This is great news, though it has been a long time coming for Kenny.

Fatal blaze

"Once the prosecution sit down and start to prepare their case for trial, they will realise that they don't have one.

"The only decent thing to do here is drop the charges and send Kenny home to Scotland."

Richey was 18 when he left his mother's home in Edinburgh to live with his American father in Ohio, where he joined the US Marines.

In July 1986 he was arrested for the murder of two-year-old Cynthia Collins, who died in a fire at her mother's apartment.

The prosecution claimed he started the blaze because his estranged former girlfriend and her new lover - supposedly the intended targets - lived in the flat beneath.

Two-year-old Cynthia Collins died in the fire

However, Richey's lawyer Ken Parsigian told the BBC Scotland news website that over the past 20 years their case had steadily weakened.

He said: "It is important to remember that the State offered Kenny a plea bargain 21 years ago that would have had him out in 11 years.

"So at some level, they thought that was sufficient for their view of the case (not ours) that a drunk guy started a fire in a cockamamie scheme to have it burn through the floor and kill his ex-girlfriend, and a little girl was tragically killed instead.

"Even if you believe that is what happened, and we intend to prove it is not, 21 years is ample, indeed, heavy punishment for that offence. The facts of the State's own theory simply do not support more punishment, let alone the death penalty.

"Thus, while I don't expect to convince the State of Kenny's innocence even after we have convinced a jury (which we will), I would expect them to evaluate the weakness of their case, the strength of ours, the time Kenny has already served, the punishment in comparable cases, and the cost to the State in retrying this case.

"I hope that when they weigh all those factors they will conclude that it is time to walk away and let Kenny start living the rest of his life right now."

Amnesty International Scotland director, John Watson said: "Whilst Kenny's original trial can be held up as a model of shoddy justice, the eyes of the world will be on this new case, which must be seen to meet the most stringent standards."