Ex-death row inmate freed

His conviction and death sentence were overturned last year.

OTTAWA, Ohio (AP) — A British citizen who spent two decades on Ohio’s death row was released from jail Monday after pleading no contest to three charges and being sentenced to time already served in the death of a 2-year-old girl.

Ken Richey, who once came within an hour of being executed, walked free for the first time since 1986, when he was accused of setting a northwest Ohio apartment fire that killed Cynthia Collins.

Upon his release, the Scotsman donned a blue, yellow and green Scottish cap called a glengarry.

“It really feels great,” he said in a thick Scottish accent at an Applebee’s restaurant, where he stopped to have lunch with his brother, other family members and his attorneys.

“In all honesty, it hasn’t hit me yet. I still feel numb inside.”

During the court hearing in Putnam County Common Pleas Court, Richey pleaded no contest to attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering.

He didn’t smile during the hearing, but after entering the pleas, he sat with his lawyers and let out a deep breath. His hands were cuffed at his waist, his ankles were shackled, and he was clean-shaven and wore a black shirt and pants and a multicolored tie.

Visiting Franklin County Judge Alan Travis sentenced him to 21 years, which Richey has already served, and ordered his release from the Putnam County jail. Richey remained expressionless as he was escorted from the courtroom by deputy sheriffs.

At the jail, Richey thanked his family and supporters who helped him and shook hands with a few members of the news media who were there.

He said he planned to get a “lager.”

“I’d like to thank everyone who supported me over the years, many years.” Richey said. “It’s great to finally be free at long last, and I’m looking forward to going home to Scotland. It’s been a long time coming.”

For lunch, he had a New York strip medium rare, onion rings, french fries and a diet Pepsi and split a slice of strawberry cheesecake with his former wife, Wendy.

Prosecutors approved the plea deal after a federal appeals court determined his lawyers mishandled the case and overturned Richey’s conviction and death sentence last year. Richey, a U.S.-British citizen, plans to go home to Scotland today without admitting that he had anything to do with the fire.

Along with members of Richey’s family, supporters of Collins’ family attended the court hearing, some wearing pins bearing a photo of the girl smiling, with brown bangs.

Robert Collins, the father of the toddler who died, told the judge he wishes his daughter “could appeal her death and come back to life,” according to his statement read by victim advocate Shelly Price.

“The situation surrounding the death of my little girl has haunted me for 21 years,” Collins said. “The unthinkable reality of her choking, crawling, crying, and her little lungs filling with smoke has been etched in my mind since her death. It’s an ongoing nightmare.

“I will never have closure now that the outcome has changed.”

Valerie Binkley, Cynthia’s aunt, told the judge she had prepared a six-page statement but was too emotional to read it. She then turned to Richey.

“I want you to know you fooled nobody — not me, not that baby, not any of these people,” she said. “You will fry in hell.”

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but a statement that no defense will be offered, leaving the defendant subject to being judged guilty and punished.

As part of the deal, Richey, 43, agreed to exit the country within a day and plans stay with his mother in Edinburgh. Prosecutors told him they were worried about threats against Richey, his family and attorney said.

He’ll be free, though, to return to the United States, because he’s a citizen, but must stay out of Putnam County for five years and must have no contact with any witnesses or others involved in his trial.

Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers said he agreed to the deal because the passage of time and the appeals court decision would have made it difficult to prove arson.