Kenneth Richey behind bars

COLUMBUS -- Seven months after walking off Ohio's death row into a world he hadn't seen in more than 21 years, Kenneth Richey is back behind bars in his Scottish homeland.

Richey, 43, is awaiting a bail hearing in Edinburgh Sheriff Court on a charge of assault to severe injury, accused of severely beating a 63-year-old man last month. The charge was confirmed by Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal.

"He's had a very tough time," said Karen Torley, the Glasgow, Scotland, woman who championed Richey's bid for freedom from across the Atlantic. She spoke with Richey by telephone Tuesday.

"There have been a lot of media stories written about him, many of them with no truth in them whatsoever," she said. "But they make good stories, and that has him upset."

Richey served 21 and a half years in Ohio prisons, most of it on death row, for the June 30, 1986 death of 2-year-old Cynthia K. Collins in Columbus Grove, Putnam County. Richey had been convicted of aggravated murder for setting the apartment fire that killed her, but he was eventually freed on a plea deal after a federal appeals court cut the legs out from under the arson evidence used to convict him.

A dual U.S.-Scottish citizen, he returned to a hero's welcome in Edinburgh where his mother still lived and secured exclusive media deals for his story that put the equivalent of about $80,000 in his pocket.

Today, he's unemployed, living on government support, and facing another potential prison sentence. He's been involved in highly publicized fights and has threatened suicide.

His defense attorney, Peter Winning, could not be reached for comment.

"This isn't separate from what he went through in Ohio. It's a continuation," said Marc Calcutt, of Reprieve UK, an organization that worked for Richey's release and has tried to help him readjust to life outside prison walls.

"He was a victim of a miscarriage of justice, and that doesn't end when you walk out the prison doors," he said.

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(c) 2008, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio

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