Kevin Keith

Ohio Innocence Project says man isn't killer of 3


COLUMBUS -- An organization devoted to freeing innocent inmates has gone to bat for a condemned Ohio killer, a rare move for a group better known for using DNA evidence to challenge convictions in non-death-penalty cases.
Kevin Keith

The Ohio Innocence Project says Kevin Keith did not kill three people, including a 7-year-old girl, and wound three others in a 1994 shooting in Bucyrus.

"This case gave me grave concerns," project director Mark Godsey said. "I felt we should weigh in."

The group, which has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to consider Keith's claim of innocence, generally steers clear of death-penalty cases because inmates already have attorneys making their case. In this one, Keith's public defenders say there is another suspect and that a police detective lied about a witness' statement.

Police and prosecutors allege Keith opened fire on the group in retaliation for a drug arrest that he blamed on a snitch related to the victims.

Keith, 45, has exhausted his regular state and federal appeals, losing his innocence argument in lower courts. He has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to consider his claim he didn't do it.

"This appeal is an attempt to repackage previously rejected claims," said Clifford Murphy, an assistant Crawford County prosecutor. "There is overwhelming guilt in this case."

Innocence claims by Ohio death-row inmates are relatively rare. Ohio public defenders have filed only a handful of similar claims in the past five years. The state has 172 men and one woman on death row.

The shooting happened Feb. 13, 1994, at an apartment in Bucyrus, about 65 miles north of Columbus.

Prosecutors say Keith entered the apartment and sprayed it with gunfire, killing Marichell Chatman, 24; her 4-year-old daughter, Marchae; and the child's aunt, Linda Chatman, 39. Marichell Chatman was the brother of an undercover police informant whose efforts led to a four-count indictment against Keith for selling drugs, according to prosecutors.

Three others were shot that night but survived: Richard Warren, who would testify against Keith at trial; Quanita Reeves, 7; and her brother Quinton Reeves, 4.

Keith's public defenders say they uncovered evidence that bolsters a theory first presented at Keith's trial: that there was another suspect.

That person was a suspect in a series of pharmacy robberies around the time of the killings. He testified at trial that he told surviving family members that the shootings might have been in retaliation over the informant.

Keith's attorneys found additional information in the files of an Ohio Pharmacy Board investigator who had been looking into the pharmacy robberies. In those files, the other suspect said before the shootings that he had been paid $15,000 to "cripple" the informant.

Prosecutors say the claims aren't any different than what came up at trial.

Keith's attorneys also say a detective perjured himself in describing how a survivor identified Keith.

Capt. John Stanley of the Bucyrus Police Department read a transcript at trial of a nurse's call to police saying that Richard Warren, who survived the shooting, had woken up and identified the shooter as someone named "Kevin."

Keith's attorneys say the nurse Stanley identified, Amy Gimmets, never worked at the hospital. They say Warren's real nurse, named Amy Whisman, never told Stanley the name of the alleged shooter.

"Stanley created the fictitious Nurse Gimmets, and he lied about the conversation he had with Warren's real nurse," Rachel Troutman, Keith's public defender, said in a court filing.

Prosecutors dismiss the discrepancy as irrelevant, saying Warren testified at trial that Keith shot him.

Stanley, now retired, declined to comment.
www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/06/30/keith.html

Keith defender: Bucyrus cops lied in court

By Dan Clutter
Special to the News Journal

COLUMBUS — An attorney for Kevin Keith has accused the Bucyrus Police Department of fabricating evidence and committing perjury in the 1994 triple murder trial of the death row inmate.

Rachel Troutman, an attorney with the Ohio Public Defender’s Office, said in an interview with the Telegraph-Forum on Friday that police, most notably former Capt. John Stanley, made up evidence against Keith.

Keith, 45, formerly of Crestline, was convicted of killing three people, including one child, and seriously wounding three others, including two children, in a Bucyrus apartment on Feb. 13, 1994.

Troutman, along with co-counsel Tyson Fleming, has filed a motion with the Ohio Supreme Court in an effort to get Keith a new trial.

Keith has been on death row since his May 1994 conviction in a Crawford County courtroom and is currently in the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

The Ohio Innocence Project announced in June that it was taking up Keith’s cause.

Devoted to freeing innocent inmates but rarely going to bat for those convicted in death penalty cases, the organization recently petitioned the state’s high court to reconsider Keith’s case.

“This case gave me grave concerns,” project director Mark Godsey said. “I felt we should weigh in.”

Godsey cited defense allegations that another suspect exists and that police lied about a witness' statement.

Clifford Murphy, an assistant Crawford County prosecutor, has disputed the claims.

“This appeal is an attempt to repackage previously rejected claims,” he said. “There is overwhelming guilt in this case.”

No execution date has been set for Keith, though he’s exhausted his state appeals. Troutman said, however, that the Ohio Supreme Court has not heard the new evidence yet.

“The odds of this getting heard are not very good,” Troutman said. “The Supreme Court takes about 10 percent of all the cases it’s offered. I can think of one death penalty case that’s been accepted at this kind of stage.”

On the night of Feb. 13, three Bucyrus residents — Marichell Chatman, 24; her daughter Marchae, 4; and Marichell Chatman’s aunt, Linda Chatman, 39 — were gunned down in Marichell’s apartment in Bucyrus Plaza Estates.

Wounded in the attack were Marichell’s boyfriend, Rick Warren, and cousins, Quanita Reeves, 7, and 4-year-old Quentin Reeves.

Bucyrus police Chief Ken Teets, who was a patrolman at the time and was on the scene in a peripherial role, said the accusations are not true.

“I deny that,” Teets said. “I know that involved my predecessors but I am sure that is not the case.

“They have never done anything like that in the past and I am sure that is not the case.”

On Friday, Troutman laid out the defense’s main points of contention.

The first is a recorded phone conversation Stanley allegedly had with one of Warren’s nurses at Grant Medical Center in Columbus.

According to Stanley’s testimony, a Grant nurse named Amy Gimmets telephoned to tell him that Warren told her that a man named Kevin committed the murders.

Troutman said while a recording of the conversation does exist, no nurse named Amy Gimmets has ever worked at Grant.

“Where this came from was questionable,” Troutman said of the recording. “Then we located Amy Whisman (Petrk now), and she said she called Bucyrus police but she never had the name Kevin. She said she didn’t know because she didn’t want to be involved.

“There is an audiotape of nurse Amy Gimmets, but the tape has never been authenticated,” she said. “Having a voice on tape saying this is different than having a witness standing up in court and saying, ‘Yes, this is my voice, I did say that’ and ‘Yes, I was Richard Warren’s nurse.’ ”

Troutman said Keith had an alibi for the night of the murder, and couldn’t possibly have been at the scene when the murders occurred.

“Kevin had two girlfriends at the time. He was with one of them, Melody Davison — they were at her apartment (in Mansfield), watching TV, I believe,” Troutman said. “Then they left to go to his aunt’s house.”

Davison never testified at trial. According to Troutman, she was arrested trying to bring marijuana into the jail to Keith, so her credibility as a witness was in question.

According to police, it was Davison’s grandfather’s car that was used the night of the murders. The prosecution argued that the car backed into a snow drift and got stuck, and the license plate numbers 043 were imprinted in the snow. The numbers matched the plate on the Davison family car. The vehicle was later impounded.

Troutman also argues that imprints made of the tire tracks during the investigation did not match the tread on the Davison car’s tires.

“Melanie said that this is her grandfather’s car and she didn’t think Kevin had ever been in it, much less have access to it to drive it, and he didn’t drive it that night,” Troutman said. “But that was never presented to the jury.”

Troutman alleges that Davison’s neighbor Judith Rogers said she saw Davison and Keith together in Mansfield around the time of the murders.

“The time frame wouldn’t have matched up,” Troutman said. “Kevin couldn’t have gotten there in time. (Rogers) didn’t know Kevin and she didn’t really have a reason to lie for him.”

The defense in the original trial could not shake Warren’s testimony that Keith committed the murders.

Warren testified that Linda Chatman had fingered her killer by his first name. He also said she mentioned Kevin’s last name but he couldn’t remember it.

At trial, prosecutors argued a revenge motive — to get back at an informant at the center of a drug bust that involved Keith in January 1994, Keith had gone after the man’s family.

“Richard Warren told a bunch of people initially that he couldn’t identify the man, he was wearing a mask, until the next day when the police got to him,” Troutman said. “They gave him the name Kevin — four different Kevins, in fact — to choose from. According to them, he picked out the name Kevin Keith.”

Troutman said Keith is seeking a new trial, not release.

“He’s not saying open the doors and let me out — he’s saying, this is ridiculous, I need a new trial,” Troutman said. “From day one he has said he didn’t do this. In the Ohio Supreme Court, that is what we are asking for.”
www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20090711/NEWS01/307110003/1002/Keith-defender--Bucyrus-cops-lied-in-court

Kevin Keith will be executed Sept. 15, the Ohio Supreme Court announced Tuesday.

The 46-year-old Crestline man was convicted in May 1994 of a triple murder at Bucyrus Estates on Feb. 13, 1994.

"He was found guilty and has gone through numerous appeals, in which all have been denied," Bucyrus City Council member Ken Emerson said

"There is no new evidence so, hopefully, this will bring it to an end."

Bucyrus police and Crawford County prosecutors say Keith opened fire on a group in retaliation for a drug arrest he blamed on an informant related to the shooting victims.

Three Bucyrus residents were killed in the shooting: Marichell Chatman, 24; her daughter Marchae, 4; and Chatman's aunt, Linda Chatman, 39. Marichell Chatman's boyfriend, Rick Warren, and cousins Quanita Reeves, 7, and Quentin Reeves, 4, were wounded.

The Ohio Supreme Court denied Keith's last appeal March 11, 2009.

Keith has long denied he was the shooter. Keith's public defender, Rachel Troutman, claimed there is another suspect and that a Bucyrus police captain lied about a witness statement.

The Ohio Innocence Project took up Keith's case in June. The organization says it is devoted to freeing innocent inmates, but rarely gets involved with those convicted in death penalty cases.

Bucyrus police Chief Ken Teets, a patrolman at the time of the shooting who was on the scene in a peripheral role, said the accusations of police misconduct are not true. He was unavailable for comment Tuesday night.

Assistant Crawford County Prosecutor Clifford Murphy also denied Keith's claims.

"There is overwhelming guilt in this case," Murphy said previously.

At trial, Warren was a key witness, saying Linda Chatman referred to her killer by his first name.

Prosecutors also used the partial imprint of a car license plate left in a snowbank at the scene to link Keith to the crime. The vehicle's license plate matched that of a car owned by his girlfriend's grandfather.

Keith, who claims he had four alibi witnesses that show he was in Mansfield at the time of the shooting, is in the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown.

The rulings put the state on pace to execute a record number of inmates, with executions now scheduled monthly through Septembe
To read more;
www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20100203/NEWS01/2030305/Convicted-triple-killer-has-date-with-death

Innocence groups back condemned Ohio killer of 3

Innocence groups from around the country on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of an Ohio man sentenced to die in September for fatally shooting three people.

The national Innocence Network and a group of eyewitness testimony experts filed papers Monday asking the court to review the evidence against death row inmate Kevin Keith. The network, which has filed only four similar requests in the past two years, says it considers the evidence in Keith's case compelling.

Keith's lawyers say courts have never heard the full amount of evidence they say could exonerate him.

That includes an alternate suspect who boasted he was going to carry out the killings, an enlarged photo of Keith used during a picture lineup and witnesses who say Keith was elsewhere.

"Without the intervention of this court, a man whom the state has deprived of a fair trial will be put to death by that same state," Innocence Network lawyers said in their filing.

Keith, 46, was sentenced to die for killing three people, including a 7-year-old girl, in a 1994 shooting in northern Ohio that also wounded three others.

Police and prosecutors allege Keith opened fire on the group in retaliation for a drug arrest that he blamed on a snitch related to the victims.

Keith has exhausted his regular state and federal appeals.

A message was left with the Ohio Attorney General seeking comment. Prosecutors in Crawford County have previously said Keith is attempting to repackage already rejected claims.

The shooting happened Feb. 13, 1994, at an apartment in Bucyrus, about 65 miles north of Columbus.

Prosecutors say Keith entered the apartment and sprayed it with gunfire, killing Marichell Chatman, 24; her 4-year-old daughter, Marchae; and the child's aunt, Linda Chatman, 39. Marichell Chatman was the brother of an undercover police informant whose efforts led to a four-count indictment against Keith for selling drugs, according to prosecutors.

Three others were shot that night but survived: Richard Warren, who would testify against Keith at trial; Quanita Reeves, 7; and her brother Quinton Reeves, 4.

Keith's public defenders say they uncovered evidence that bolsters a theory first presented at Keith's trial: that there was another suspect.

That person was a suspect in a series of pharmacy robberies around the time of the killings. He testified at trial that he told surviving family members that the shootings might have been in retaliation over the informant.

Keith's attorneys found additional information in the files of an Ohio Pharmacy Board investigator who had been looking into the pharmacy robberies. In those files, the other suspect said before the shootings that he had been paid $15,000 to "cripple" the informant.

Prosecutors say the claims aren't any different than what came up at trial.

Keith's attorneys also say a detective perjured himself in describing how a survivor identified Keith.

Read more: www.sunherald.com/2010/04/05/2076341/innocence-groups-back-condemned.html#ixzz0kHHxz2Cg

dailycaller.com/2010/04/05/innocence-groups-back-condemned-ohio-killer-of-3/

Kevin Keith
An Innocent Man on Ohio's Death Row
opd.ohio.gov/kevinkeith/KevinKeith.htm

Editorial

Weight of the evidence
Kevin Keith sits on death row for killing three people in 1994. New information invites doubts about his conviction

Kevin Keith appeared to be the logical suspect 16 years ago. He had been indicted for selling drugs. Days later, a man entered an apartment in Bucyrus and sprayed gunfire, killing three people and wounding three others. The victims were family members and friends of a police informant. Keith attacking in retaliation? A jury answered yes, Keith then sentenced to death, his execution scheduled for September, or five months from now.

All along, Keith has argued that he has been wrongfully convicted. On Monday, the Innocence Project in Ohio and other states launched a new effort to win a new trial, taking the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court. Ordinarily, the Innocence Project operates in the realm of DNA testing to challenge convictions. In this instance, the project departed from the usual practice because of the compelling information that has surfaced signaling the need to look again at the case against Keith.

Worth repeating is that there is no remedy for an execution. Thus, states must proceed with the greatest care in handling capital punishment cases. Prosecutors and judges insist that they do, and there are added procedures, rules and protections. Yet there also are mistakes, as the freeing of the wrongly convicted has made plain.

In this instance, lawyers for Kevin Keith have asked the Supreme Court to examine the failure of the state appeals court to weigh new information in the case. The appeals panel essentially ruled that with or without the new information, the jury had sufficient evidence to convict. The attorneys reminded the high court of the appellate obligation to view evidence as material if there is a reasonable probability the result of the trial would have been different.

Studies have revealed the unreliability of eyewitness identification, playing a part in 75 percent of convictions overturned via DNA testing. In the Keith case, a key eyewitness ( a victim in the shooting) first said he didn't know who shot him. He said the shooter wore a mask. Yet, in time, through a flawed lineup, including the police improperly suggesting the name ''Kevin,'' the witness identified Keith.

The lineup was compromised further by the way the police defended the use of ''Kevin,'' holding in a suppression hearing that a nurse reported the name came from the witness as he recovered in the hospital. Yet the nurse on duty has denied doing so.

The Keith attorneys argue that additional information points to an alternate suspect, a man who claimed that he had been paid $15,000 ''to cripple'' the informant responsible for the drug raid, a man known to wear a mask in his violent criminal activities. The attorneys point out that this and related evidence wasn't disclosed to Keith or his trial counsel.

Again, Keith need not prove his innocence. Rather, he must show that new evidence carries the probability of altering the trial result. Ohio must worry about a compound problem: Executing the wrong man, and allowing another to escape his crime.

www.ohio.com/editorial/opinions/90193637.html

Keith supporters expect to hear from state by May 5

www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20100417/NEWS01/4170310/Keith-supporters-expect-to-hear-from-state-by-May-5

Condemned Ohio killer of 3 requests new trial

An Ohio man sentenced to die in September for fatally shooting three people says new evidence strengthens his claim of innocence and his call for a new trial.
Death row inmate Kevin Keith says in a court filing Tuesday that police logs fail to show a phone call prosecutors say a hospital nurse made about a possible suspect.
Prosecutors used that call to police in Bucyrus (byoo-SY'-ruhs) in northern Ohio to establish that a surviving victim identified Keith as the killer.
Keith's attorneys also say new evidence refutes a woman's testimony that she found a shell casing near where Keith picked his girlfriend up after the shooting.
A message was left with the county prosecutor's office in Bucyrus. Courts have so far rejected Keith's innocence claims.
www.daytondailynews.com/news/ohio-news/condemned-ohio-killer-of-3-requests-new-trial-700042.html

Evidence of innocence
Kevin Keith sits on Ohio's death row as the eyewitness case against him continues to erode

The successful prosecution of Kevin Keith relied heavily on the account of an eyewitness. Richard Warren testified in the Crawford County Common Pleas Court that Keith sprayed gunfire in a Bucyrus apartment, killing three people and wounding three others (including Warren). No forensic evidence conclusively linked Keith to the crime. He even had an alibi. So the Warren testimony proved critical in sending Keith to death row 16 years ago.

Now that testimony has begun to fall apart, new attorneys for Keith uncovering fresh evidence since they joined the case three years ago. The attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court for relief, Keith facing an execution date in September. On Tuesday, they also filed a motion in Crawford County for a new trial. They have discovered new information in an unrelated lawsuit that concerns the Bucyrus Police Department destroying tape recordings of the station's incoming telephone calls.

Questions long have been raised about the way Warren arrived at identifying Keith. Warren initially insisted that he didn't know the shooter. He explained that the shooter wore a mask. Yet he eventually pointed to Keith. Why? Police officers said a nurse attending Warren in the hospital called the station to say that Warren had identified the attacker as ''Kevin.'' The police then put together a photo lineup of ''Kevins,'' from which Warren selected Keith.

Put aside that the lineup was biased, the photo of Keith larger and darker than the others. The police testified that a nurse ''Amy Gimmets'' made the call to the station. Yet Gimmets never testified at the trial. Another nurse, John Foor, took the stand, telling the court that he called the police to relay that Warren wrote down the name of ''Kevin'' as the attacker.

At the time, attorneys for Keith attempted to substantiate the call. They weren't able to do so because the police department destroyed the recordings of incoming calls. New attorneys for Keith have discovered from the unrelated lawsuit that the police still have radio dispatch logs that documented every incoming call. The logs reveal no incoming calls at the time Foor supposedly phoned the police.

In other words, there's no indication the call took place. More, this hardly is the first crack in the police version of events. New attorneys for Keith have discovered that Amy Gimmets doesn't exist, at least as a nurse at the hospital or as a resident of Ohio. Amy Whisman was the nurse on duty. In 2007, she filed an affidavit stating that she did not give the police a name for the attacker because Warren never said a name. In addition, Warren himself testified that he never wrote down the name ''Kevin.''

No Amy. No writing down ''Kevin.'' No phone call to the police. What is evident is that the police had Kevin Keith in their sights from the start. Did they maneuver to plant the thought with Warren? The new attorneys for Keith have uncovered strong information about a far more likely suspect. All this explains why the Ohio Innocence Project has taken up Keith's cause, why he deserves relief from the Supreme Court and a new trial in Crawford County.

More;
www.ohio.com/editorial/opinions/93752209.html

Court won't hear inmate's claim of innocence

The Supreme Court won't hear an Ohio man's arguments that he will be wrongfully executed for fatally shooting three people.

The high court on Tuesday refused to hear Kevin Keith's appeal. Keith is scheduled to be executed in September.

Keith's lawyers wanted justices to review the evidence in the killing of three people in a 1994 shooting in northern Ohio.

They say courts have never heard evidence that could exonerate him. That includes an alternate suspect who boasted he was going to carry out the killings, an enlarged photo of Keith used during a picture lineup and witnesses who say Keith was elsewhere.

Read more: www.kansascity.com/2010/06/01/1984412/court-wont-hear-inmates-claim.html#ixzz0pfnGYuoB

Keith continues to seek new trial

Convicted triple murderer Kevin Keith was in Crawford County Common Pleas Court on Thursday for a status hearing in his quest for a new trial.

Before the hearing, visiting Judge Thomas Patrick Curran of Cleveland discussed a request to recuse himself. That motion was filed by Keith's attorney, Rachel Troutman, of the Ohio Public Defender's Office.

"I feel I can be an acceptable and honorable judge and intend to stay on this case," Curran said.

Troutman based her argument on a phone call Curran received after he ruled against Keith during an appeals case in 2007. The call was made by a high school classmate of Keith's, the Rev. Renald Torres, who questioned the ruling. Curran told Torres he could not speak to him about the case and ended the call.

Troutman was concerned that experience could prejudice the judge.

Keith, housed on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, was found guilty of killing three people at Bucyrus Estates on Feb. 13, 1994. Three others survived gunshot wounds.

Keith, 46, formerly of Crestline, was convicted of opening fire on a group of people in retaliation for a drug arrest he blamed on an informant related to the victims. Marichell Chatman, 24; her 4-year-old daughter Marchae; and Marichell's aunt, Linda Chatman, 39, were killed. Marichell's boyfriend, Rick Warren, and cousins Quanita Reeves, 7, and Quentin Reeves, 4, were wounded.

Assistant Prosecutor Cliff Murphy said Keith has exhausted his appeals and there is no new evidence or evidence of false testimony.

The defense disagreed.

"We continue to investigate and continue to find new evidence, which is why things are getting filed piece by piece," Troutman said. "Kevin Keith is innocent."

Troutman said Bucyrus police offered evidence at Keith's original trial that was not accurate.

Her motion includes evidence pertaining to a witness prosecutors introduced at the original trial, a nurse named John Foor of Grant Medical Center. Foor treated Warren. According to Troutman, Warren told at least four people, including an officer, he did not know who shot him and that the shooter wore a mask.

In court, Warren testified a man named Kevin was his attacker and he identified Keith as the shooter. At trial, Foor testified he called Bucyrus police around 5 a.m. to tell them Warren wrote down the name of the shooter: Kevin.

Troutman said police logs show no call came in at 5 a.m.

Also at issue is a shell casing recovered by Bucyrus resident Fernell Graham in front of her residence. Graham, now deceased, lived near General Electric, where Keith said he picked up his girlfriend from work at 11 p.m., a little more than two hours after the shootings.

According to Troutman, Graham's daughter said he found the casing near McDonald's, a number of blocks from General Electric but close to the crime scene.

Security was tight in the courtroom, which included about a dozen deputies.

Sheriff Ron Shawber cleared the courtroom 35 minutes into the hearing when Troutman began arguing a third point. Troutman said she and a number of witnesses have been receiving threats. She said there were other suspects, in particular one she said claimed to have been paid $15,000 to commit the murders and who told people he was going to do it three weeks before the crime.

Case briefs for a new trial are due to Curran by June 30.

Keith goes before the parole board Aug. 11. He is scheduled to be executed Sept. 15.

The U.S. Supreme Court said 10 days ago it won't hear the case.

More;
www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20100611/NEWS01/6110303/1002/Keith-continues-to-seek-new-trial

Kevin Keith trial request under review

A visiting judge is reviewing briefs before deciding whether convicted triple murderer Kevin Keith will get a new trial in Crawford County.

Keith, on death row at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, was found guilty of killing three people at Bucyrus Estates on Feb. 13, 1994. Three others survived gun- shot wounds.

At a status hearing June 10, Visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran, of Cleveland, told attorneys to file their briefs on the case.

His ruling could come within days, said Rachel Troutman of the Ohio Public Defender's Office.

Keith is scheduled to be executed Sept. 15, but has a clemency hearing Aug. 11 in Columbus.

Keith, 46, formerly of Crestline, was convicted of opening fire on a group of people in retaliation for a drug arrest he blamed on an informant related to the victims.

Marichell Chatman, 24; her 4-year-old daughter Marchae; and Marichell's aunt, Linda Chatman, 39, were killed. Marichell's boy-friend, Rick Warren, and cousins Quanita Reeves, then 7, and Quen-tin Reeves, then 4, were wounded.

Assistant Prosecutor Cliff Murphy said Keith has exhausted his appeals and insists no new evidence or evidence of false testimony exists.

Keith's attorneys disagree.

"We continue to investigate and continue to find new evidence, which is why things are getting filed piece by piece," Troutman said. "Kevin Keith is innocent, and all the evidence together will show that."
DEFENSE CLAIMS

Troutman said Bucyrus police offered evidence at Keith's original trial that was not accurate.

Her motion includes evidence pertaining to a prosecution witness, a nurse named John Foor at Grant Medical Center. Foor treated Warren, the lone adult who survived the shooting. According to Troutman, Warren told at least four people, including a police officer, he did not know who shot him and that the shooter wore a mask.

In court, Warren testified a man named Kevin was his attacker and he identified Keith as the shooter. At trial, Foor testified he called Bucyrus police around 5 a.m. to tell them Warren wrote down the name of the shooter: Kevin.

Troutman said police logs indicate no call came in at 5 a.m. on the day in question.

Also at issue is a shell casing recovered by Bucyrus resident Farnella Graham in front of her residence. Graham, now deceased, lived near General Electric, where Keith said he picked up his girlfriend from work at 11 p.m., about two hours after the shootings.

According to Troutman, newly discovered police logs indicate the bullet casing is an issue. The log reads, "1221 S. Walnut. Woman found casing. Thinks she may have picked it up in the McDonald's area."

Murphy said trial transcripts show Graham and Bucyrus police Officer John Seif testified the shell casing was found in front of her home, across from General Electric. Her daughter, both said, made the call to police.

Troutman's brief states Keith's new evidence includes radio logs from the Bucyrus Police Department that were not disclosed until this year during a civil lawsuit filed by Massillon resident Edwin Davila against the city for destroying records from 16 years ago. Davila recently won a $1.4 million judgment in the case.

Davila recently said of the Keith case, "There is an individual on death row who could have benefited from the existence of these public records, and so far he has not been able to receive a new trial. Hopefully, this decision will also help him."
CHIEF CONFIDENT

Bucyrus police Chief Ken Teets, who was a patrolman at the time the murders took place, is confident all records were turned over to the defense in 1994.

More;
www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/article/20100729/NEWS01/7290329/1002/Kevin-Keith-trial-request-under-review

TIMEOUT FROM DEATH?

Questions in the case of a man heading toward execution prompt calls for a review of Death Row cases - and a possible moratorium.

www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/08/08/copy/timeout-from-death.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Canton man on death row seeks clemency

An unlikely coalition has joined an effort to spare a convicted killer — a former Canton man they have never met — from his upcoming execution.

They include Melinda Elkins Dawson, a former Stark County resident whose ex-husband was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of her mother, and Edwin Davila, of Jackson Township, whose $1.4 million civil lawsuit against the Bucyrus Police Department inadvertently uncovered files pertaining to Kevin Keith’s case, records previously thought to be destroyed.

Keith, a former McKinley High School football star, was convicted in 1994 of fatally shooting three people, including a 4-year-old, in Bucyrus in Crawford County. The murders reportedly were in retaliation over Keith’s arrest on drug-trafficking charges. Three others were wounded.

Two survivors — a man and a 7-year-old girl — identified Keith as the partially masked shooter. A neighbor later testified that she saw a man fitting Keith’s description running to a car after she heard shots.

Keith, now 46, repeatedly has denied involvement, arguing that it’s a case of mistaken identity, and that he was in Crestline when the killings occurred.

Rachel Troutman of the Ohio Public Defender’s Office has filed a petition of clemency on Keith’s behalf. A hearing is set for Wednesday in Columbus, with the board expected to hand its recommendation to Gov. Ted Strickland on Aug. 18.

The governor could opt to alter Keith’s sentence, pardon him or allow the execution slated for Sept. 15 to move forward.

“We are requesting a full pardon,” Troutman said. “We’ve taken the entire case apart, and identified the actual killer.”

Strickland recently told the Columbus Dispatch that Keith’s case contains some “troubling” circumstances. “We are looking at that case very seriously,” he said.

More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition in support of Keith at www.kevinkeith.org.

“I’m optimistic that there’s no way Kevin Keith is going to be executed,” Troutman said. “I think the governor’s going to take time to do this painstakingly. At the end of the day, he’ll see there’s nothing left against Kevin Keith, and if he isn’t pardoned, a killer will continue to walk the streets of Bucyrus.”

A BROTHER’S FIGHT

The crime caught the attention of President Bill Clinton, who lauded Bucyrus police during a visit in 1994. Crawford County Prosecutor Russell Wiseman, now a judge, won Ohio Prosecutor of the Year. Wiseman declined to comment on the latest development.

Charles Keith, of Canton, said his younger brother is a victim of a botched investigation.

“There was never any physical evidence in this case; that’s what makes it difficult,” Charles Keith said. “Kevin was convicted on paper... .”

Kevin Keith’s supporters also argue that a number of elements, from an oversized police mug shot to mysterious phone calls, helped seal his fate.

During the investigation, police taped a call from an “Amy Gimmets” who claimed to be a nurse at Columbus Grant Medical Center, informing them that surviving witness Richard Warren offered the name “Kevin.” Charles Keith has a letter from the Ohio Nursing Board later stating that no such person ever worked there.

Troutman said Kevin Keith’s case contains several such compelling factors, including evidence that the man they believe was responsible for the killings — a convicted murder who was under two felony drug investigations — threatened the victims two weeks before the shooting occurred.

She said there weren’t too many legal avenues left when she got the case in 2007. “So the idea that he was actually innocent was not likely. I didn’t go in believing him, but he was adamant. I told him if he was innocent, the evidence would show it, and it did.”

Davila, a former attorney, said he became involved when his own attorney received a call from Troutman. He and the Keiths have never met.

Charles Keith is grateful, saying Davila’s action to seek old police tapes of incoming phone calls may have provided his brother with a break he needed.

“I was told various reasons why I couldn’t get the documents; I didn’t know they were destroyed. It was definitely some shabby police work,” Charles Keith said.

Bucyrus Police Chief Police Ken Teets last month told the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum newspaper that the newly discovered material contains no new evidence that exonerates Kevin Keith.

Davila disagrees.

“The police chief claims that nothing on the tapes would have helped Keith, but his attorneys disagree,” Davila said. “Moreover, the chief at his deposition claimed that certain portions of 911 tapes could be isolated and preserved as evidence. Then, why was it not done in the Keith case?”

“The fine work of Rachel Troutman is really what will win or lose the case,” Davila said. “What we provided pales in comparison to the effort which she is making. She has found a number of inconsistencies in the case. The evidence we provided is just a small piece of the puzzle.”

ANOTHER STAUNCH SUPPORTER

Charles Keith, who has pleaded his brother’s case for 14 years, has garnered support from Melinda Elkins Dawson, whom he met years ago while working at the Community Treatment and Corrections Center in Canton. Dawson was working at a temporary employment agency that helped CTCC residents find work.

“I met Charles back in 1998, shortly before my mother was murdered,” she said. “When he laid the story on me, I was shocked. I hadn’t dealt with anything like that. My first impression was, it would be horrible to have a family member you care about imprisoned wrongfully. There also was a fleeting thought that, ‘That’s something I’ll never have to deal with.’ ”

In 1999, Dawson’s then-husband, Clarence Elkins, was charged with murdering her mother, Judy Johnson, and raping a 6-year-old niece in Summit County. Dawson led a seven-year fight to exonerate Elkins, who was convicted largely on the child’s eyewitness testimony. While in prison, Elkins secured DNA evidence from Earl Mann, an incarcerated neighbor of his mother-in-law. It matched DNA found at the crime scene. Mann eventually confessed and was convicted. Clarence Elkins was released in 2005. He and Dawson divorced in 2007.

“She didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and her ex-husband is free,” Charles Keith said. “She is my shoulder to lean on and cry, and I was her shoulder. Nobody else was hearing us. I think we were joined together by God and by pain. The truth gives us peace.”

“Charles and I formed this bond out of the injustice and tragedy that took place in our lives,” Dawson said. “At some point, you have to recognize, ‘This person is not in denial. This person knows for a fact that their loved one is innocent.’ You don’t take this type of anguish on yourself and have something like this in your life, 24/7, for the fun of it. It’s not something you want to take on; it’s something that’s put on you.”

Dawson, who now lives in Dayton, was working for the Ohio Innocence Project at the University of Cincinnati when she recommended Keith’s case to Executive Director Mark Godsey. Earlier this year, the group filed a brief in support of Kevin Keith with the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices declined to consider the case.

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Dawson called Keith’s fate a result of “tunnel vision,” and that it’s based solely on eyewitness identification, “which is the least-reliable evidence in the world.”

“It’s a horrible crime, nobody could deny that, just like my mother’s case,” she said. “But you cannot have justice if you put someone in prison unless you know that person is guilty.”

Dawson, now a public speaker for victim advocacy, is a board member of Ohioans to Stop Executions.

“I stand on a belief there are injustices that happen,” she said. “I’d like to think I have an ear when I do voice my opinion because of the experience I have with Clarence’s case and my mother’s case ... . I don’t believe in the death penalty; there’s too much human error. If, on Sept. 15, the state of Ohio executes Kevin, they’re going to execute an innocent man. How can we as citizens allow that to happen? Who might be next?”


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www.cantonrep.com/news/x979355560/Canton-man-on-death-row-seeks-clemency