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Condemned Ohio killer of 3 says he's innocent

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By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, The Associated Press Updated 12:26 PM Tuesday, June 30, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio — 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.

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 feltwe 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.

___

On the Net:

Ohio Innocence Project: http://www.law.uc.edu/institutes/rosenthal/oip.shtml

Ohio Death Row: http://www.drc.ohio.gov/Public/deathrow.htm

___

June 30, 2009 04:20 PM EDT

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How can you justly think that this man has had a fair trial wether he is african-american or white it really doesn't matter.What if they do kill this man and it comes out that he really didn't do it then what. I read about plenty of white people cry about what they didn't do and they get new trials. Most of the white people in jail have killed and raped people. So before you call people names no matter what race they are check things out before you pass judgement on someone it could be you.

mesha
6:26 PM, 7/19/2009

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I cannot believe that they are again considering that this monster is not the man who murdered these people. Almost every prisoner on death row says, "I didn't do it, I was framed" and especially if they are african american and the majority of the police department was white. I think the issue of his guilt has been decided, now its time to let justice prevail for the victims families. Put him down like the dog he is

JJ
10:18 PM, 7/16/2009

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Before the state of Ohio commits homicide on behalf of its citizens it needs to be 100% certain of the facts. The analysis by the Ohio Innocence Project suggests that -- sadly -- this certainty is absent. The moral and just thing to do is to consider the claims.

bob
1:23 PM, 7/15/2009

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I don't know whether you're innocent or not, but regardless I don't think you should be killed. Here's to hoping you're proven innocent!

Thatcher
1:40 PM, 7/10/2009

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Thank God!! I have been rooting for Kevin for several years now and I know he is innocent. I am from NC and I've been his penfriend for alot of years and I pray that the judges read this appeal with an open heart. Kevin, I have faith that God will open those prison gates. Good luck.

pat vanderhorst
3:13 PM, 7/7/2009

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