| Kenny Richey: fresh calls for Scotsman on Death Row as USA marks 30 years of death penalty
23.01.07
Reprieve, Amnesty International UK and Scottish anti-death penalty campaigner Karen Torley issued fresh calls for justice for a Scottish man on death row in the USA, as the US marked a 30-year ‘anniversary’ of the death penalty.
Thirty years ago the US state of Utah executed Gary Gilmore by firing squad, thus ushering in the “modern” era of judicial killing in the USA. For half a decade before Gilmore’s execution, US courts had banned all executions, but since January 1977 the US has gone on to execute over 1,000 people, one of the largest numbers anywhere in the world.
On the "anniversary’’ of the modern era of executions, the US state of Texas - by far the biggest executing state in the USA - executed another prisoner despite concerns that the condemned man (Johnathan Moore) was not competent to stand trial as a result of mental illness.
Clive Stafford-Smith, the leading death penalty lawyer and founder of UK anti-death penalty organisation Reprieve, said:
“Think about what you were doing 20 years ago. Imagine having spent 23 hours a day since, locked in your tiny cell with the courts refusing to even consider compelling evidence of your innocence. When will Tony Blair use his special relationship to bring this innocent Scot home?”
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:
“This marks a shameful ‘anniversary’ of 30 years of judicial killing in the USA and for 20 of those Kenny Richey has endured the living hell of death row. The death penalty is a human rights outrage, achieving nothing but suffering and injustice. It’s high time for the USA to abandon this cruel punishment, just as it’s high time for Kenny to receive justice in his case.”
Mr Richey has also been the subject of a longstanding campaign from Scottish anti-death penalty campaigner Karen Torley. Ms Torley said:
“I have been campaigning for justice for Kenny for over a decade and I remain as convinced as ever of the need to push for a full hearing of evidence that will show Kenny’s innocence.”
Mr Richey, who has a Scottish mother and grew up in Edinburgh, has fought a long campaign to clear his name. He was convicted of arson and murder in the state of Ohio in 1986 and sentenced to death on 27 January 1987. He has been on death row since then, but has always protested his innocence. Evidence has since emerged casting serious doubt on Mr Richey’s guilt.
Read more facts about Kenny's case and appeals here.
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