Sarandon bid to stop execution

Campaigner: Susan Sarandon

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Hollywood star Susan Sarandon has called for the retrial of a British man on Death Row in America.

Kenny Richey, 38, from Edinburgh, Scotland, was convicted of an arson attack that killed a two-year-old girl in Ohio and faces the electric chair.

The Academy Award-winning actress made the appeal after being approached by a group campaigning to free Richey while she was appearing in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with actor husband Tim Robbins.

Sarandon, who won her Oscar for best actress in anti-capital punishment film Dead Man Walking, said new evidence uncovered by the condemned man's defence created fresh doubts about Richey's conviction.

In a statement, she said: "I want to add my voice to the growing campaign to have the whole case re-examined.

"Individuals and organisations as diverse as his Holiness the Pope, the European Parliament, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Amnesty International believe that there is such a `reasonable doubt' over the conviction that there should at the very least, be a retrial.

"For the family of the victim of this crime I have nothing but the deepest sympathy.

"I call on the authorities in Ohio to re-examine the evidence, listen to the voices around the world and look again at the detail of the case."

Richey, who has always protested his innocence, left Scotland in 1981 to start a new life in America.

In 1986 Richey, who was 21 at the time, was convicted of the murder of two-year-old Cynthia Collins. The youngster died in a fire that destroyed the flat she lived in with her mother.

The prosecution said that he had started the fire deliberately in a jealous rage by spreading paint thinners or petrol in the block of flats where his former girlfriend lived.

They also alleged he disabled the flat's smoke detector to ensure the fire was undetected until it was out of control.

Richey's defence however says that he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice. They say that there is compelling forensic evidence showing that the fatal fire may have been caused by children playing or by a discarded cigarette on a sofa.

Richey himself insists he tried to rescue the youngster as flames engulfed her home. His supporters say the smoke alarm was already broken.

Weeks before a return visit to the UK, he was arrested and sentenced to death. He has been awaiting execution ever since.

Alan Fisher, a correspondent for GMTV and a supporter of the campaign, was instrumental in contacting the actress, a noted opponent of capital punishment, and released the statement on her behalf.

He said his own fears of a miscarriage of justice were confirmed when he eventually met the condemned the Scot in prison.

He said: "A year ago I conducted an interview with a Briton on death row in Ohio after several organisations had raised questions about the validity of the conviction.

"After speaking to Kenny Richey I too became convinced of the need for at the very least a retrial.

"Susan Sarandon was sent a copy of the reports that aired on GMTV and after her recent visit to Scotland she has released this statement."

Three years ago, Pope John Paul wrote to the Governor of Mansfield Correctional Unit in Ohio asking that Richey be saved from execution.