Death-row man to be freed after 20 years

A British citizen who spent 20 years on death row in the US before his murder conviction was overturned has agreed to a plea deal that will allow him to walk free.

Ken Richey will enter a plea tomorrow and return to his native Scotland on Friday.

Richey, 43, was convicted of starting a fire that killed a two-year-old girl in 1986 and spent 20 years on death row until a federal appeals court overturned his conviction in August, arguing that his lawyers mishandled his case.

The court ordered he be retried or set free.

The state of Ohio was set to try him again in March.

Instead, he will plead no contest to involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering, and be sentenced to time already served.

A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is treated as such by the courts.

Richey’s case has drawn support from members of the British Parliament and the late Pope John Paul II.

He was nearly out of appeals until the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals court ordered a new trial.

The court said expert testimony could have contended that the fire was not intentionally started.