Kevin Keith

[thinkinkmesa]

ohiodeathrow.blogspot.com/2009/05/kevin-keith.html

Keith has been on Ohio's death row since 1994. His innocence claims and newly discovered evidence are overwhelming, enough so that the Ohio Innocence Project has become involved. The Innocence Project usually works on cases when DNA evidence is available for testing. However, despite the fact that no forensic evidence is available for testing, the Innocence Project is involved with efforts to win a new trial for Kevin Keith. Keith has a motion for a new trial pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[guest]

Editorial: New evidence in Crawford Co. murder case should be studied

The Ohio Supreme Court should look again at the case against Kevin Keith — the legal procedures and the evidence — before Keith is put to death for crimes that he may not have committed.
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The 45-year-old former Crestline man is on death row for killing 24-year-old Marichell Chatman, her 4-year-old daughter Marchae Chatman and Marchae’s aunt Linda Chatman, 39, in a spray of gunfire at a Bucyrus apartment in February 1994.

Last week, the Ohio Innocence Project raised questions about Keith’s guilt based upon evidence not available to the defense at the time of Keith’s trial three months after the murders.

Keith has exhausted his regular state and federal appeals, losing his argument of innocence in lower courts. He has now asked the Ohio Supreme Court to consider his claim he was not the killer.

The Ohio Innocence Project, a non-profit program run through the University of Cincinnati College of Law, fights to free innocent inmates convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. The program relies on DNA technology and similar evidence to cast doubt and overturn convictions.

The program rejects almost half of the requests for help it receives, and will not advocate for an inmate “unless we really believe they are innocent,” says academic director Jenny Carroll.

The Project helped free Clarence Elkins, a MANCI inmate, in 2005, six years after the Magnolia area man was wrongly convicted of raping and murdering his mother-in-law and raping and assaulting a 6-year-old niece.

Keith was convicted of the killings. But some of the evidence now available raises doubts. The time to re-examine the facts of the case is now, before Keith is led to a gurney to present his arm for a lethal injection.

In a state with the death penalty, justice for all demands all evidence be considered. If a re-examination of evidence upholds the conviction, then return Keith to his cell to await his end.

Putting Keith to death and then discovering he was not the killer is an error that can’t be rectified — an error that will rest on the souls of all Ohioans.

There may be reasonable doubt about this conviction now. It should not be allowed to fester.

The victims of the crime haven’t received justice if the real killer hasn’t been found and prosecuted.
www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090706/OPINION01/907060301&s=d&page=3#pluckcomments

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected the claim of a death row inmate who says he did not kill a 7-year-old girl and two other people in a 1994 shooting.

The court without comment Wednesday turned down the appeal by 45-year-old Kevin Keith. He is sentenced to die for the attack in an apartment in Bucyrus in northern Ohio that also wounded three others.

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 a 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 and prosecutors have asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date.
www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/92/2009/december/02/ohio-court-rejects-killer-of-3-innocence-claim.html

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

Kevin Keith's attorneys are hard at work to overturn his death sentence before it can be carried out Sept. 15.

Amy Borror, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Public Defender's Office, said Keith's attorney, Rachel Troutman, has a case pending in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

"His attorneys are working on, but have not yet filed, a petition in the U.S. Supreme Court," Borror said. "After those cases, they will file for executive clemency, which every death row inmate gets before execution."

Keith, 46, formerly of Crestline, was convicted in 1994 of a triple murder at Bucyrus Estates on Feb. 13, 1994.

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 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.

Warren was the key eyewitness in the trial that resulted in Keith's death sentence.

Keith's appeal was denied by the Ohio Supreme Court on March 11, 2009, and his execution date was set Tuesday.

Bucyrus Police Chief Ken Teets was a patrolman when the crime occurred, and said he believes the right man is on death row.

"There was no conspiracy or cover-up," Teets said. "Kevin is the one who committed the crime. I would think his execution will bring closure, although I do not see it happening on the scheduled date in September. His attorneys will find a way to postpone it."

The Ohio Innocence Project took on Keith's case last summer.

"Kevin Keith deserves a new trial, not an execution date," said Mark Godsey of the Ohio Innocence Project. "New evidence in the case, which has never been reviewed in full on its merits, raises concerns that the eyewitness identification used to convict Mr. Keith was unreliable and that he may be innocent.

"Faulty eyewitness identification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75 percent of convictions overturned by DNA testing. It would be an irreversible and tragic error to execute Mr. Keith without allowing for careful review of this new evidence of innocence."

Mike Tromely grew up with Keith in Crestline, and has followed the case closely for 16 years.

"He was always a really nice guy, a friend to everyone and would do anything for anybody," Tromely said. "There is no way that I believe he is guilty. He could never commit this type of crime, and there are many people who think he is innocent."

Tromely has his own theory as to why Keith's appeals continue to be denied in Ohio.

"I think Ohio doesn't want this to fall back in their lap," Tromely said. "They have the wrong man sitting in prison for half his life. It is horrible to see that the (Ohio) Supreme Court won't overturn this decision. Until they get the right person for this crime, everyone should be looked at."

A partial license plate imprint in a snow bank at the scene was part of the evidence used against Keith.

"I do not believe that there was a license plate imprint in the snow. The way a license plate is made, that would be almost impossible," Tromely said.

To read more;
www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20100204/NEWS01/2040309

[thinkinkmesa]

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/

[thinkinkmesa]

Groups ask USSupCo to hear Keith appeal

Innocence groups from around the country on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of a former Crestline man sentenced to die Sept. 15 for a triple murder in Bucyrus.

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, formerly of Crestline, was convicted of a triple murder at Bucyrus Estates on Feb. 13, 1994.

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 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.

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.

Warren was the key eyewitness in the trial that resulted in Keith's death sentence.

Keith has exhausted his regular state and federal appeals, and the Ohio Supreme Court denied his appeal on March 11, 2009. Keith's execution date was announced on Feb. 2 of this year.

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.

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.

That claim has emphatically been denied by local authorities.

Bucyrus Police Chief Ken Teets was a patrol officer when the crime occurred. He believes the right man is on death row.

"There was no conspiracy or cover-up," Teets said previously. "Kevin is the one who committed the crime. I would think his execution will bring closure, although I do not see it happening on the scheduled date in September. His attorneys will find a way to postpone it."

The Ohio Innocence Project took on Keith's case last summer.

More;
www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/article/20100406/NEWS01/4060303/Groups-ask-USSupCo-to-hear-Keith-appeal

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

David Mills, one of the attorneys who worked on a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Ohio death row inmate Kevin Keith, said there is a chance the court will review the case.

Keith, 46, formerly of Crestline, is scheduled to die Sept. 15 for a triple murder that occurred at Bucyrus Estates on Feb. 13, 1994.

"A lot of times in the capital context, with a lot of cases where it's not as much about guilt or innocence, often turn on whether the death penalty is properly imposed in a particular case," Mills said. "It seems to me that, when you have a case of an innocence claim, the Supreme Court is, at the least, going to give that a close look.

"In the few cases where there is a real innocence claim, I don't think the Supreme Court is comfortable with the idea of an innocent man getting executed, to say the least."

Mills, a Cleveland attorney who specializes in appellate cases, along with Keith's attorney, Rachel Troutman of the Ohio Public Defender's Office, filed a brief with the high court March 2.

Several briefs in the case were filed Monday. Among the names listed on the briefs are David Loftis and Nina Morrison of the Innocence Project, Vernon Broderick, Aaron Y. Huang and Adam Banks of Weil, Gotshal and Manges of New York; and Daniel S. Medwed, professor of law at the University of Utah.

Keith has exhausted his regular state and federal appeals, and the Ohio Supreme Court denied his appeal March 11, 2009.

Troutman said that a response from the state is due May 5, then Keith's lawyers will have a chance to respond before the court decides whether to hear the case.

"While they don't have to take any cases, I think it's fair to say this will get a second look if they think there is potential," Troutman said.

The attorneys said they are seeking a new trial for Keith.

"We kind of keep whatever options are open on the table," Mills said. "No jury has ever considered all the evidence. Basically, the position is that is what should happen."

"That's all the U.S. Supreme Court can do is order a new trial," Troutman said. "They can't wipe the conviction clean and exonerate him."

Mills said that, while there is precedence for the court hearing death penalty cases, most of those cases involved DNA evidence, which does not exist in the Keith case.

"Usually DNA evidence is involved," Mills said. "There are at least 250 cases that have been overturned when DNA is involved. Now, there's no DNA for us to evaluate. But about 75 percent of the cases that were overturned used partial or faulty DNA evidence. It's the primary evidence that has convicted people."

Mills said the main reason for optimism in this case is the fact that the Ohio Supreme Court analyzed the facts that were placed into evidence in the original trial and failed to look at new evidence uncovered during the last two years.

"The Ohio courts, who last rejected Kevin's claims, did an entirely improper analysis," Mills said. "When you bring a new claim of new evidence that was withheld, that affects the outcome, courts are supposed to look at whether the new evidence would impact the outcome. They're not supposed to simply look at the earlier evidence presented at trial and see if it's sufficient to hold up the original verdict.

"These are sort of well-established principles in the Supreme Court that it's not how you're supposed to analyze the question."

Troutman said the new evidence is reason enough to provide Keith with another trial.

"Just because there may have been sufficient evidence to point to one person, to assess whether the trial has been fair you have to look at the new evidence to see if it's actually material," Troutman said.

"It's especially egregious in this case where the evidence actually contradicts the evidence that was presented at trial."

Bucyrus police and the Crawford County prosecutor's office have steadfastly maintained the evidence speaks for itself and that Keith was the man who committed the crimes in 1994.

Prosecutors say Keith opened fire on a group in retaliation for a drug arrest he blamed on an informant related to the victims.

Police Capt. John Beal, who was a patrolman at the time of the killings and was one of the first officers on the scene, said on July 1, 2009, "in my heart and in my head I know the right man was convicted."

More;
www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/article/20100407/NEWS01/4070310/1002

[guest]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

Kevin Keith appeal: Apartment history a surprise to tenants

John Beavers did not know the history of his apartment when he moved into it in 2003.

"I did not know people were murdered here until about a year ago, when a detective came from Columbus to take photos," Beavers said while standing in the doorway of 1712 Marion Road, Apt. B.

The apartment was once occupied by Marichell Chatman and her 4-year-old daughter, Marchae. They, along with Marichell's aunt, Linda J. Chatman, were gunned down in a triple murder Feb. 13, 1994, at Bucyrus Estates.

Marichell's boyfriend, Rick Warren, was wounded, as were Marichell's cousins, 4-year-old Quentin and 7-year-old Quanita Reeves. Marichell was a stay-at-home mom and Marchae attended pre-school through the Head Start Program. Linda Chatman worked at Baja Boats at the time she was killed.

"It's sad, but I don't think the place is haunted. I don't mind living here," Beavers said.

Bucyrus police arrested Kevin Keith two days after the murders. He was sentenced to death on May 31, 1994.

Keith, now 46 and formerly of Crestline, has exhausted all of his state and federal appeals. The Ohio Supreme Court denied his last appeal March 11, 2009. He is scheduled for execution Sept. 15.

The Ohio Innocence Project has taken on Keith's case. His attorney, Rachel Troutman, and members of the Innocence Project across the country believe he is innocent.

According to Laura S. Burstein, communications consultant from Squire Sanders Legal Counsel in Washington, D.C., new evidence shows the primary evidence used to convict Keith, the eyewitness testimony of Warren, was improperly influenced. Burstein and the Innocence Project claim a photo lineup presented to Warren had a larger photo of Keith than others in the lineup.

They say new evidence further implicates another suspect who told a police informant he was paid to carry out the 1994 attack. Further, they claim police were aware of the statements by the alternative suspect but no one turned them over to Keith's previous counsel.

Bucyrus police Chief Ken Teets and Capt. John Beal, who were patrolmen at the time of the murders, say Keith was correctly convicted.

"Just because there may have been sufficient evidence to point to one person, to assess whether the trial has been fair you have to look at the new evidence to see if it's actually material," Troutman said. "It's especially egregious in this case, where the evidence actually contradicts the evidence that was presented at trial."

David Mills, one of the attorneys who worked on a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Keith, said there is a chance the court will review the case. Mills, a Cleveland attorney who specializes in appellate cases, filed a brief with the high court March 2.

Several other briefs were recently filed by: David Loftis and Nina Morrison of the Innocence Project; Vernon Broderick, Aaron Y. Huang and Adam Banks of Weil, Gotshal and Manges of New York; and Daniel S. Medwed, professor of law at the University of Utah.

Only the Supreme Court can order a new trial for Keith. Troutman said a response from the state is due May 5, then Keith's lawyers will have a chance to respond before the court decides whether to hear the case.

More;
www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/article/20100417/NEWS01/4170304

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

Will Ohio execute the wrong man?
Kevin Keith deserves one more day in court

By Michael Douglas
Beacon Journal editorial page editor

Published on Sunday, May 02, 2010

Kevin Keith grew up in Canton. He attended Canton McKinley High School, playing defensive tackle on a state championship football team. For the past 16 years, he has been a resident of death row, convicted for a triple murder in Bucyrus.

His execution date looms, set for Sept. 15, and yet a question won't go away: Will Ohio put to death the wrong man?

Prisons are crowded with inmates proclaiming their innocence. Keith has held to his story since his arrest, two days after a man sprayed gunfire in an apartment, killing three and wounding three others. A jury wasn't persuaded, delivering a guilty verdict three months later, affirming the theory of law enforcement, that Keith struck in retaliation.

The victims were friends and family members of a police informant whose tip led to the arrest of Keith and others on drug charges. (The charges were dismissed later.)

A recent friend of the court brief in the case recalls William Brennan, a former Supreme Court justice, arguing that there is ''nothing more convincing [to a jury] than a live human being who takes the stand, points a finger at the defendant and says 'That's the one!' '' Richard Warren filled the decisive role of eyewitness in the trial of Keith. He was a victim in the shooting, and he identified Keith as the gunman.

Yet as strong as the Warren testimony appeared, here is where the case against Keith now falters.

From the outset, Warren wasn't steady in his telling. He first relayed that he couldn't identify the shooter. He explained that the shooter wore a partial mask.

Eventually, Warren arrived at Keith. He recalled that a man named ''Kevin'' was the attacker. How did ''Kevin'' surface? Officers contend that a nurse treating Warren at the hospital called to say that Warren had identified the shooter as ''Kevin.'' The officers then moved to secure the identification, showing Warren a photo lineup of ''Kevins,'' the image of Keith larger and darker (even Warren acknowledging the lineup was biased).

What attorneys for Keith now have discovered is that the nurse doesn't exist. The police pointed to an ''Amy Gimmets.'' Yet no such nurse can be found, in Ohio or across the country.

Amy Whisman attended to Warren. She has signed an affidavit stating that she called the police to say Warren was awake. ''I did not ask Richard Warren for the name of the person who shot him,'' she declared, ''and Richard Warren never told me the name.''

Without Amy Gimmets or Amy Whisman, the police lack a credible argument for Warren initiating ''Kevin.'' If anything, circumstances point to the department itself raising the name.

This new evidence fits into a larger pattern of doubt about the reliability of Warren as an eyewitness. Medical records show that Warren told his psychologist the police suggested a motive for the shooting: targeting an informant. Further, the police claim that Warren told them in a phone call that he was 75 percent sure Keith was the shooter's last name. Yet the call went unrecorded, though all department calls are supposed to be taped.

None of this surprises those who study memory. Analyses show that eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions. Those convictions overturned by DNA testing? Roughly three-quarters involved eyewitnesses mistakenly pointing the finger. And half involved cross-racial misidentification. Warren is white. Keith is black.

Another eyewitness saw the attacker from afar. She couldn't make an identification until she saw Keith's photograph on television. Memory can be prompted, massaged and altered in many ways, something Ohio lawmakers recently recognized in enacting improved procedures for lineups.

One survivor, a 7-year-old girl, excluded Keith from the start. She cited ''daddy's friend Bruce.''

Who is Bruce?

If new evidence invites doubt about the strength of Warren's testimony, the question still hovers: If not Keith, who was the gunman?

Attorneys for Keith now have identified a strong alternate suspect. They looked into records concerning a string of pharmacy burglaries in the area around the time of the murders. They found Rodney Melton, a man with a violent criminal past, known to wear a mask when committing his crimes. Two weeks before the murders, he told a police informant he was paid $15,000 to ''cripple'' the drug informant viewed as the target of the apartment attack. More, an accomplice in the burglaries told police that Melton said he would kill anyone who snitched on him.

Finally, ''Bruce'' is Bruce Melton, Rodney's brother, yes, the young eyewitness almost getting it right.

The police failed to inform Keith and his trial counsel about Melton's ''cripple'' comment. Hard to believe a jury wouldn't look differently at the case now — if provided the full picture. In January 2009, Judge Eric Clay of the federal appeals court agreed. Unfortunately, two of his colleagues, Danny Boggs and Julia Smith Gibbons did not, leaving Keith and his attorneys with one option, the U.S. Supreme Court expected to rule on their habeas corpus petition early next month.

No less than the Ohio Innocence Project has taken up the Keith cause. It doesn't lightly enter such matters. Many who know Kevin Keith couldn't fathom his committing murder. He didn't have a violent past. He has an alibi, and now he has new and compelling evidence. At this point, he deserves a chance to show a court that he has been right all along: He didn't do it.
Douglas is the Beacon Journal editorial page editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3514, or e-mailed at [e-mail].

More;
www.ohio.com/editorial/douglas/92610909.html

[guest]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

Attorneys file motion for new trial in Bucyrus murders
Attorneys for convicted triple murderer Kevin Keith filed a motion Tuesday in Crawford County Common Pleas Court seeking a new trial based on information in a separate lawsuit.

The attorneys allege Bucyrus Police Department did not provide evidence material to their defense case in the 1994 trial.

Bucyrus police Chief Ken Teets, who was a patrolman the night of the murders, said he didn't have enough information to respond to the charges.

"Basically, I won't comment on it until I see what happens," Teets said. "I haven't heard about (the motion) and I'll wait until I know more about it to comment on it."

Rachel Troutman of the Ohio Public Defenders Office, which is bringing the motion, said the city is being sued for $1,409,000. That action alleges the police department has destroyed tape recordings of incoming phone calls from the night of the murders.

Troutman claims the evidence contained in those calls is at the center of the Keith case.

Keith was found guilty of murdering three people at Bucyrus Estates on Feb. 13, 1994. Three others, including one adult, Rick Warren, survived gunshot wounds.

According to Troutman, evidence at the center of the lawsuit undermines the prosecution's primary evidence against Keith - eyewitness identification by Warren - and supports Keith's claim of innocence.

The new evidence in the motion pertains to a witness introduced by prosecutors at the original trial, a nurse named John Foor of Grant Medical Center, who treated Warren. 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.

The lawsuit, filed by Edwin Davila of Massillon, refers to legal documents filed by Bucyrus officials in response to the lawsuit against the city. Troutman said the documents reveal the police department used radio dispatch logs that show calls that came in on the night of the murders.

In February 2010, Keith's attorneys obtained these radio dispatch logs. According to Troutman, the radio logs document no incoming phone calls to the department at the time and date the call from Foor allegedly took place. Troutman said this proves police could not have received the name Kevin from Nurse Foor, as was stated at trial.

Martin Yant of the Ohio Innocence Project met with Warren nearly two years ago.

"He does not want to talk to anyone about the case and says his story has not changed from what he said at the trial," Yant said.

Troutman said no one can expect Warren's memory to be accurate.

"Due to the procedures used by the Bucyrus police when they interviewed him in the hospital the day after the shooting, we cannot expect his memory to change," Troutman said. "According to the memory experts across the country, who have recently taken up Mr. Keith's cause, memory for a past event is dependent on three phases: encoding, maintenance and retrieval. The first phase is where the person takes in the details of the event. The second phase is maintenance, and during that phase, the memory for an original event can be modified. If that happens, then the third phase (retrieval) won't ever be accurate. You can't go back in time and change the maintenance process."

Troutman compares the memory process to another nationally known case.

"This is why a victim such as Jennifer Thompson-Cannino will always see the face of Ronald Cotton as her rapist, despite the fact that Cotton has been exonerated and she knows another man has been proven to be the rapist," Troutman said.

"This is why 75 percent of wrongful convictions are due to eyewitness identification. Due to the faulty eyewitness procedures that were relied on by the police in Mr. Keith's case, the second phase of Mr. Warren's memory process was modified.

"The Bucyrus police used the very procedures recognized to be unsound and inaccurate in the reform bill that was recently signed into law in Ohio, Senate Bill 77."

More;
www.marionstar.com/article/20100512/NEWS01/5120303/-1/newsfront2

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

Supreme Court to consider appeal by Canton man

The U.S. Supreme Court has set a date of June 1 to consider an appeal by Kevin Keith, a former Canton man on death row for the drug-related murders of three people in Bucyrus in 1994.

The Ohio Public Defenders Office is handling Keith’s request. Earlier this year, the nationally-based Innocence Network filed court briefs on Keith’s behalf.

Attorneys for Keith have argued that his conviction was based on a number of errors, including:

• Mistaken identity.

• Police withheld evidence and committed perjury.

• Another suspect was heard threatening to commit the killings.

• Prosecutors ignored witnesses who claimed that Keith was somewhere else at the time of the killings.

Keith, who is scheduled to be executed in September, has exhausted all other appeals. His argument for a new trial was rejected by lower courts.

Keith was born in Bucyrus but grew up in Canton, where he played on McKinley High School’s 1981 state championship football team.
www.cantonrep.com/newsnow/x289834132/Supreme-Court-to-consider-appeal-by-Canton-man

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[guest]

Kevin Keith in Court


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

Picture slide show;
www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=B6&Dato=20100610&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=6100801&Ref=PH

[guest]

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

[guest]

Gunshot victim convinced Kevin Keith is the killer

Quanita Reeves wants closure on the tragedy she survived Feb. 13, 1994.

Quantcast

The 22-year-old was 6 years old at the time she says Kevin Keith shot her, 4-year-old brother Quentin and her cousin Marichell’s boyfriend, Rick Warren. Marichell Chatman, her 4-year-old daughter Marchae and Marichell’s aunt, Linda Chatman, were killed in the shooting spree.

Keith, 46, formerly of Crestline, was convicted of the murders. He has been sentenced to die Sept. 15, but was back in Crawford County Common Pleas Court on Thursday at a status hearing in his quest for a new trial. Keith’s attorneys say he is innocent, something Reeves said is absurd.

“He did it, Kevin Keith did it. Kevin Keith shot us,” said Reeves as she stood in front of the Crawford County Courthouse after the hearing.

Keith was convicted three months after the shootings.

“Kevin needs to step up and just say what he did instead of being a coward. For 17 years, taxpayers have been paying ...,” said Herb Chatman, a relative to five of the victims. “He needs to be a man about it. Our family needs closure.”

Herb Chatman is disgusted by the latest appeal.

“He is asking for a new trial, my family begged for their lives, they didn’t get a new trial,” Herb Chatman said.

Marichell Chatman’s brother, Damon, wants peace.

“My sister, niece and aunt were innocent people. He (Kevin) sits in court and laughs,” Damon Chatman said. “When they stick the needle in his arm, he can laugh then. My people aren’t resting at all until that happens.”

Damon’s wife, Mindy, worries Quanita and Quentin are haunted by memories of that tragic night.

“This is something they don’t share at family get-togethers, but who would? There was no warning, just pure evil. A family in an apartment being a family and, in the blink of an eye, a family no more,” Mindy Chatman writes in a letter to victim’s advocate Jim Scott.

Mindy Chatman is convinced Keith was the shooter.

“The right man is in custody fighting for his life, a chance our loved ones never had. So, why should he?” she said

Source;
www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/article/20100611/NEWS01/100611012/Gunshot-victim-convinced-Kevin-Keith-is-the-killer

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

The Ohio Parole Board will conduct a
death penalty clemency hearing for inmate Kevin
Keith at 9 a.m. Aug. 11 at the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction (DRC) Central Office
location at 770 W. Broad St.

Keith, formerly of Crestline, was convicted for the
1994 deaths of Marichell Chatman, Linda Chatman
and Marchae Chatman in Bucyrus. He is scheduled
for execution Sept. 15.

www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20100804/UPDATES01/100804008

[thinkinkmesa]

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

[thinkinkmesa]

Death row case raises questions

Ex-Canton man avows innocence in killings
www.ohio.com/news/100211769.html

[thinkinkmesa]

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?”


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

[thinkinkmesa]

Unusual Alliance Protests Execution

An unlikely array of Republicans and Democrats, attorneys general and federal and state judges and prosecutors has lined up to fight the execution of a death row inmate many believe to be innocent.

Dozens of former officials have joined death penalty opponents to appeal to Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, a Democrat, to spare the life of the inmate, Kevin Keith. They say emerging evidence of investigative errors, inadequate defense and the existence of another suspect merit a pardon or at least a new trial.

The diverse group, including some who generally support the death penalty, is scheduled to appear at a news conference at the Statehouse in Columbus on Tuesday, ahead of a clemency hearing on Wednesday.

Mr. Keith, 46, was convicted of murdering two women and a 4-year-old girl and wounding a man and two children in February 1994. Prosecutors said he sprayed gunfire through an apartment in Bucyrus, Ohio, to retaliate against a relative of some of the victims who cooperated with a drug raid.

Mr. Keith is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Sept. 15. But many believe he did not commit the crime.

“I am gravely concerned that the State of Ohio may be on the verge of executing an innocent person,” Jim Petro, a former Ohio attorney general and a Republican who described himself as a death penalty supporter, wrote in a letter to Mr. Strickland.

Herbert R. Brown, a member of the Ohio Public Defender Commission and a former Ohio Supreme Court justice, wrote to the governor, “There is a mass of exculpatory evidence, suppressed evidence, faulty eyewitness identification and forensic reports that support legitimate claims of innocence.”

Those officials were joined by 31 former judges and prosecutors from around the country; the Innocence Network and its 61 affiliates, including the Ohio Innocence Project; and 100 religious leaders and organizations — a level of support that very few cases reach, said Richard C. Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington.

Defense lawyers say another man told a confidential informant in a separate drug investigation that he had been hired for $15,000 to “cripple” the informant whose relatives were victims of the Bucyrus shooting. That other man was also identified as the Bucyrus gunman by his co-defendant in the drug case, said Rachel Troutman, Mr. Keith’s lawyer.

Lawyers say that a critical piece of evidence in Mr. Keith’s case was fabricated. A police officer testified that a nurse who treated the lone adult survivor had called the police station and said the survivor identified his attacker as “Kevin.” But the original defense team did not call the nurse to testify, and a 2007 investigation found no nurse with the name given by the officer. A nurse with the same first name but a different surname who treated the victim stated in a 2007 affidavit that she did not hear or relay the name of the gunman.

Mr. Keith’s defenders also say that the photo lineup in which he was identified by the only adult witness was prejudiced because his photo was larger than the others, the photos were presented by police officers who knew Mr. Keith was a suspect, and the photos were displayed simultaneously rather than sequentially. The state now recognizes those practices as likely to produce false identifications and proscribes them in a law passed with bipartisan support this year.

State Senator David Goodman, a Republican who sponsored the bill, has also called for clemency.

The fact that the victim, a white man, was asked to identify a black assailant also increased the chance of an inaccurate identification, according to a panel of 13 eyewitness and memory experts from universities throughout the country. The panel was assembled by Scott D. Gronlund, a University of Oklahoma psychology professor, on behalf of Mr. Keith.

Some of the five people who offered an alibi for Mr. Keith were never brought to testify, defense lawyers said.

Clifford Murphy, an assistant prosecutor in Crawford County, where the crime was committed, declined to comment.

Mr. Keith has lost state and federal appeals, including an effort to bring his case before the United States Supreme Court. His clemency request comes as Mr. Strickland is locked in a campaign for re-election against John Kasich, a former Republican congressman.

Amanda Wurst, Mr. Strickland’s spokeswoman, said that the governor and his staff always rigorously reviewed clemency requests and that he had made no decision in the case. “The governor has already said that he finds some of the circumstances in Mr. Keith’s case troubling,” Ms. Wurst said.

She said the re-election campaign would play no part in his decision. “This is an issue of life and death, and that takes precedent over political considerations.”

Mr. Dieter said governors often faced political pressure to deny clemency, especially during a campaign, though few ever acknowledged its influence.

Mr. Strickland, whose administration has overseen more executions over the last two years than any state but Texas, may have the political leeway to grant clemency if he believes it is warranted, Mr. Dieter said.

“I guess if the governor had to prove his commitment to the death penalty, it’s been done,” he said, “and Governor Strickland knows that the death penalty is not infallible.”

More;
www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/us/10deathrow.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

[thinkinkmesa]

Judge denies Kevin Keith's request for new trial

Convicted triple murderer Kevin Keith will not get a new trial in Crawford County, Judge Thomas Patrick Curran ruled Monday.

The defense team filed motions in late July for a new trial, citing new evidence in the case.

Now on Ohio’s death row in Youngstown, Keith, 46, was found guilty of the shooting deaths of two women and a 4-year-old girl and wounding a man and two children in February 1994. Prosecutors said he sprayed gunfire through an apartment at Bucyrus Estates to retaliate against a relative of some of the victims who cooperated with a drug raid.

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

Crawford County Assistant Prosecutor Cliff Murphy said previously that no new evidence exists in the case.

The defense disagrees.

“Kevin Keith is innocent, and all the evidence together will show that,” Keith’s attorney, Rachel Troutman of the Ohio Public Defender's Office, said.

More;
www.bucyrustelegraphforum.com/article/20100810/UPDATES01/100810010