Kenny Richey - Prosecution Case

Prosecution Case

The prosecution alleged that Richey was angry with his ex-girlfriend, Candy Barchet and her new boyfriend, so he set fire to the apartment above theirs, hoping the fire would burn through the concrete floor and injure them while they slept. To do this, he stole petroleum and paint thinner from a nearby greenhouse, which he brought to the scene of the crime by climbing onto the roof of a utility shed below Hope Collins' living room balcony. Once inside, he splashed petrol and paint thinner throughout the living room and set it alight before escaping over the balcony with the empty cans.

A number of witnesses to the events of the party at section "A" Old Farm Village Apartments gave evidence. In particular, testimony was given by Hope Collins, Peggy Price (an adjacent neighbor of Richey's, now known as Peggy Price Villearreal) and Candy Barchet (Richey's ex-girlfriend). Barchet and her infant son moved into their apartment around 15 June, and she met Richey. Within a few days, Barchet and Richey formed a sexual relationship. On June 24, Richey learned that Barchet had just been in bed with John Butler, and Richey pulled a knife on Butler. In response, Butler "...bounced him around the room a little bit." Just after that fracas, Richey broke his hand by punching a door, requiring a splint.

On Sunday evening, June 30, Barchet took her new boyfriend, Mike Nichols, to a party in Price's apartment. During the party, Barchet kissed Nichols openly and told Richey that she wanted to date Nichols. Testimony at the trial indicated that Richey became upset at this news. According to other accounts, the three discussed the issue and Richey accepted it. When Barchet went home, around 1:00 a.m., she asked Nichols to spend the night with her, which he did.

That night, Richey wore his Marine Corps camouflage fatigues and combat boots. He still had his right hand bandaged in a splint. Jeffrey Kezar testified that he heard Richey saying, "If I can't have her (Barchet), nobody else can." Other testimony revealed that Richey told people that "A" Building would burn that night, and he would use his Marine training to do that. Robert Dannenberger described Richey as "very upset," and said Richey threatened to blow the place up since he had "...learned how to do explosives" in the Marines. Price became upset, and Richey told her, "Well, instead of blowing it up, I'll torch A Section." Price recalled that Richey said, "Before the night is over, part of A Building is going to burn down." Shirley Baker also recalls Richey saying, "A Building was going to burn * * *." Juanita Altimus, while just outside her own apartment, overheard Richey say on the landing, "Building A was going to burn tonight."

By 2:00 a.m., the party was breaking up, and Richey kept asking Hope Collins if he could spend the night on her sofa. Hope Collins refused. Around 2:20 a.m., June 30, Richey offered to steal some flowers for Price from a greenhouse across the street, but Price told Richey not to bring them to her.

Between 3:00 and 3:30 AM., Dennis Smith drove up and asked Hope Collins to go with him. Hope Collins replied she did not have a baby-sitter, but Richey said, "Well, I'll keep an eye on her (Cynthia Collins), if you let me sleep on your couch." A neighbour also overheard Hope Collins say to Richey, "Go upstairs with Scootie (Cynthia Collins) — she's asleep — but don't lock the door because I can't get back in because I don't have a key."

Around 4:15 a.m., neighbours reported bright orange flames and smoke coming out of the Collins apartment, and the fire department responded. When the firemen arrived, they saw several feet of flames from the apartment and deck curl up over the roof. Richey was either already at the Collins apartment or he arrived shortly after; he was screaming that a child was still inside. One fireman saw him coming out of the apartment, helped him up, and had to restrain him to keep him from going back in. Richey was combative, argumentative, and interfered with efforts to fight the fire and rescue Cynthia Collins. Two deputy sheriffs overpowered Richey and turned him over to Police Chief Thomas Miller to keep him out of the way.

A resident and a fireman both started into the apartment, but the heat and fire were too intense. A fireman then went back in, with oxygen, but he could not find Cynthia Collins and soon ran out of oxygen. Ultimately, several firemen, with fire hoses and oxygen masks, succeeded in removing Cynthia Collins' body from her burning bedroom. Cynthia Collins died from asphyxia related to smoke inhalation.

During the fire, Richey asked Nichols, "Why don't we finish it now, since you think you're so bad?" Richey also asked Barchet if the fire had scared her. When she replied it had, Richey told her, "if he couldn't have me, that nobody would * * *." Altimus reported that Richey, as he looked over the fire damage, drank a beer, laughed, and said, "It looks like I did a helluva good job, don't it."

Richey admitted that he had earlier obtained two plants from the K & J Greenhouse for Barchet, and police found those plants outside Barchet's apartment. The K & J owner identified them as having been stolen from his greenhouse. Richey had also offered to steal two plants for Price that evening. The K & J owner confirmed that he kept paint thinner and gasoline in two unlocked storage sheds. Gasoline and paint thinner could have been stolen from these sheds, but the owner did not know if any was missing.

As part of its investigation, the State eventually retrieved six samples of debris from the fire. On the afternoon of July 1, nearly two days after the fire broke out, the Deputy Sheriff retrieved the carpet from the dump. One piece of carpet was recovered from atop the garbage pile, and another was partially covered by trash. Once removed, the carpet was placed in the sheriff's parking lot. The carpet stayed in the parking lot — which was no more than forty feet from gasoline pumps — for three weeks, before it was finally taken to the State Arson Lab for testing. Similarly, a wood chip sample was not removed from Collins' apartment for testing until July 17, nearly three weeks after the fire. With regard to the possibility of contamination, the prosecution pointed out that the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that the possibility of contamination goes to the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility.

At the original trial, the judges accepted that, "Other evidence established that the arsonist had used accelerants, including dominant pour patterns in the burning on the wood deck and living room concrete. An accelerant was also found in wood chips from the deck floor. Thus, even if the rug had been wrongfully admitted, other evidence of arson rendered any error harmless."

Cryer concluded from the physical evidence and burn patterns that an accelerant had been used. An accelerant had been poured on the apartment's wooden deck, the fire's point of origin, as well as the living room rug. A smoke detector had been pulled from the ceiling before the fire. It was a fast, hot, intense fire because of the accelerant. Gregory DuBois, a consulting engineer, agreed that the fire had been caused by arson and that accelerants had been used. One rug sample from the Collins apartment contained gasoline, and another rug sample revealed paint thinner. Wood chips from that apartment's deck also contained paint thinner.

These samples were analysed by the State Arson Lab using gas chromatograms, which one of the State's forensic chemists, Dan Gelfius, described at trial as, "...scientific instrumentation that allows the differential migration of the components of hydrocarbons to separate and to give . . . a pattern similar to the identification of fingerprints." Gelfius testified that both a sample of carpet from Collins' living room and a sample of wood from her balcony contained paint thinner, and that another sample of the living room carpet contained gasoline.

Chief Miller interviewed Richey as a witness on the morning of June 30, and also obtained his statement in the afternoon after advising him of his rights. By July 1, the investigation focused on Richey. Police arrested him for arson, advised him of his rights, and took further statements. Police tape-recorded an interview of Richey on July 1. (Fire Marshal Cryer and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Randy Basinger participated in that interview.)

In these statements, Richey maintained that he had been drunk on June 30, and did not remember much. However, he denied starting the fire or knowing how it started. He also denied that Hope Collins had asked him to babysit Cynthia Collins, and claimed he was at his father's apartment when the fire began. Richey did admit that he knew Cynthia Collins was in Hope Collins' apartment; he had looked in on her while she was sleeping during the party. Richey also claimed that he had secret ways with witnesses so they would not testify against him. In a later statement, he said he would cut the prosecutor's throat.

Richey told Deputy Roy Sargent on November 19 that, "Randy Basinger was a dead man," and that, "...whoever testified against had better hope he's six feet under." On August 17, Richey told Deputy Mike Ball to take a message to Randy Basinger, "...that when he got out he was going to cut his throat."

While in pretrial custody, Richey wrote to a friend in Scotland that police in the United States did not scare him. The letter was quoted in the pre-sentence investigation as follows: "If one ever pulls a gun on me he'd better shoot to kill. * * * Remember that day when I shot Gog's in the head with your gun, I laughed so hard I almost ripped my sides! (If the police in Scotland) ever found out about 1/2 the stuff we done they'd bring back the death penalty just for us! * * * If they just give me prison time they better hope to hell I die in there, cause when I get out I won't stop hunting them all down until everyone who is involved in this case is dead!"

Several mental health professionals concluded that Richey suffered from borderline antisocial personality disorders. Richey's counsel at the original trial reasoned that this evidence was strongly mitigating, and that the trial court and court of appeals erred by imposing a death sentence.

According to Dr. Leena Puhakka, a psychologist, Richey displayed classic symptoms of those personality disorders. Dr. Puhakka found Richey functioned at the emotional level of a ten or eleven-year-old. Dr. Antoine Demosthene, a psychiatrist, found no evidence of psychosis or mental disease, although Richey was very socially maladjusted, and suffered from antisocial personality disorder.

Dr. William McIntosh, a psychologist, testified that Richey frequently lied to manipulate the results of mental evaluations. He stated that Richey came from a chaotic family background, had an early history of violence and drug abuse, and displayed erratic behaviour and poor impulse control. Although not psychotic, Richey did have mental disorders, according to Dr. McIntosh.

Dr. Thomas Sherman, a board-certified psychiatrist testifying by deposition for the state, found Richey "extremely impulsive, self-centred, and hedonistic." He stated that Richey did not display any psychosis or inability to understand the criminality of his acts or to refrain from those acts.

Evidence by psychiatrists and psychologists also revealed Richey's preoccupation with death, blood, and violence, and his acts of self-mutilation and attempts at suicide resulting in over six hundred self-imposed scars and cuts on his body. Richey received his first mental health evaluation in January 1978, when thirteen years old, and was briefly treated and evaluated for erratic behaviour in various mental institutions.

Social worker Judith Tolliver described Richey as a blustering young man who suffered from a, "...histrionic behaviour disorder," in addition to his other personality disorders. She found Richey not delusional, mentally impaired, or actively psychotic but severely and chronically maladjusted.