Kenny Richey


Kenneth Thomas Richey is a British-US dual citizen who in 1987 was convicted of murdering a two-year-old girl and sentenced to death. He spent 21 years on death row before re-examination of his case led to his release after he accepted a plea bargain in which he pleaded no contest to manslaughter.

Early life

Richey was born to a Scottish mother and American father. He was raised in Edinburgh, Scotland but moved to Ohio, United States to join his father in late 1982. He served in the Marines before moving into government-subsidized housing in Columbus Grove.

Murder conviction and imprisonment

On June 30, 1986, a fire broke out in the apartment complex in which Richey lived. The fire originated in an apartment where Hope Collins lived with her two-year-old daughter, Cynthia; Cynthia died of smoke inhalation. Prosecutors argued that Richey started the fire and was targeting his ex-girlfriend, Candy Barchet, who lived in the same apartment complex. At the death penalty sentencing hearing, evidence was presented regarding Richey's history of mental health problems; a psychologist and social worker testified that Richey had borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and histrionic behavior disorder.
He was on death row for 21 years in Ohio after being convicted in January 1987 of murdering two-year-old Cynthia Collins by arson in 1986.

Release

In December 2007, he accepted a plea bargain, which led to his release from death row and return to Scotland on January 9, 2008.
Richey's plea bargain involved pleading 'no contest' to manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering. He was sentenced to time served, with the murder and arson charges dropped. A 'no contest' plea is not an admission of guilt. The accused, by entering a no contest plea, neither disputes nor admits to the charges.
During his 20-year incarceration, doubts arose about the circumstantial evidence that led to conviction, particularly the forensic evidence. This led to a campaign to re-examine the evidence. Amnesty International described the case as, "…one of the most compelling cases of apparent innocence that human rights campaigners have ever seen."

Life after prison

Richey was granted British citizenship in 2003, becoming the first to benefit from a change in British nationality law regarding the status of children of British mothers and non-British fathers born outside the United Kingdom.
He had a live-in girlfriend, Vineeta Whyte for around six months after he returned home to Scotland.

Second imprisonment

After returning to the United States in 2010, Richey was arrested in Mississippi and charged in Ohio with phoning in threatening messages to Judge Randall Basinger. Despite Richey's claim that the threats were merely a drunken prank, Visiting Judge Dale Crawford found Richey guilty and sentenced him to three years in prison. Richey was released after two years and, as of January 2018, is working with the American charity Sanctuary Quarters, building houses for homeless veterans.