Aug
16
2010
Forty six year old Kevin Keith has been on death row for 16 years for the triple murder of two women and a 4 year old girl. He is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on September 15th. But, an unusual coalition consisting of anti-death penalty campaigners, former judges, prosecutors, prison directors and lawmakers has come together to call on Ohio’s parole board and Governor Ted Strickland to halt his execution. They say he may have been wrongfully convicted and deserves a new trial. There is no DNA evidence linking Keith, a black man, with the murders of the three females. Instead, his conviction was primarily based on the eyewitness testimony of a survivor of the attack, and white man named Richard Warren. Kevin Keith’s supporters accuse the police of fabricating evidence, including a “phantom witness,” using a biased photo lineup and causing investigative errors. Additionally Keith received inadequate legal defense leading many to call for a new trial or a pardon. The case has fuelled demands to rethink the death penalty in Ohio, which carries out the second highest number of executions in the U.S. A clemency hearing occurred this past Wednesday and the parole board is expected to make their decision public this week.
GUEST: Rachel Troutman, assistant attorney Ohio Public Defender Office, lead counsel for Kevin Keith
Find out more at www.kevinkeith.org.
