$10 million bail set for Richey
A JUDGE today set bail at 10 million dollars for Kenny Richey as he awaits a retrial after his death sentence was overturned.
His lawyers immediately said they would try to raise the 500,000 needed to secure his immediate release. Bail laws in Ohio mean prisoners have to come up with 10 per cent of the full bail figure to be freed.
Judge Alan Travis also ordered that the 43-year-old, from Edinburgh, must be placed under 24-hour house arrest if he is released from the county jail where he is being held in Ohio.
Richey faces a new trial over the death of two-year-old Cynthia Collins, who died in an apartment fire in 1986.
His lawyer Ken Parsigian said today that Richeys family did not have the bail money needed.
But he added: Were going to try to raise the money.
Richey came within an hour of being executed 13 years ago, after being convicted of starting the fatal fire.
He was sentenced to execution, but after a long legal fight a federal appeals court threw out his conviction and death sentence in August.
Richey spoke only once during todays hearing to confirm that he understood that if he was released, he was not to have any contact with witnesses.
Richey told the judge: Yes sir, his Edinburgh accent still apparent.
Later, as he was led out of court in handcuffs, Richey declared: Pretty good day.
Putnam County prosecutor Gary Lammers argued that Richey should not be granted bail or it should be set at 25 million dollars (12.5m).
He said that Richey threatened witnesses and law enforcement officers during his previous trial, and has since made other, similar threats.
Richeys father, James, earlier said nothing had changed in the courtroom where his son was sentenced to death over the years, and his sons position was still the same.
He didnt start the fire, he didnt kill the little girl. Hes not about to admit to anything like that, he said.
Prosecutors plan to try Richey again on aggravated murder, aggravated arson and child endangering charges.
No trial date has been set.
During the last trial, prosecutors said Richey set the blaze to get even with his former girlfriend, who lived in the same apartment building as the girl who died.
He was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to die for setting the fire that killed the toddler.
Some of the girls family members came to court today wearing T-shirts and buttons with her picture, but refused to speak to reporters.
Richeys case has drawn support from MPs and the late Pope John Paul II.
During the hearing in Putnam County Common Pleas Court, Richey appeared clean-shaven and paunchy, in contrast to the thin, handsome man with a moustache who was tried more than 20 years ago.
He never smiled, even when his family mouthed words of encouragement and tried to make him laugh.
Mr Parsigian, defending Richey, used the hearing to lay out a snapshot of his defence, saying the states case has become much weaker over the past 20 years while Richeys case has grown stronger.
He told the court he can easily dispute evidence that showed the fire was set on purpose and suggested that the victim may have been the one who started it.
He said the child had twice before started fires that had to be put out by the fire department.
She was fascinated with matches, Mr Parsigian said. That never came up at trial.
