Notable plea deal in controversial capital case

As detailed in this AP story, a controversial capital case from Ohio has now been resolved through a plea deal. Here are the specifics:

A man who spent 20 years on Ohio’s death row before his sentence was overturned has agreed to a plea deal that will give him his freedom, his attorney said Wednesday.  Ken Richey, a U.S. and British citizen, will enter a plea Thursday and return to his native Scotland on Friday, said the attorney, Ken Parsigian.

Richey was convicted of murder 20 years ago in a fire that killed a 2-year-old girl. Prosecutors said Richey set the northwest Ohio blaze to get even with his former girlfriend, who lived in the same apartment building as the toddler.  A federal appeals court ruled in August that Richey’s former lawyer mishandled his case and ordered prosecutors to try Richey again or release him. The state had been set to try him again in March.

Instead, he will plead no contest to attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and breaking and entering, and be sentenced to time already served, Parsigian said…. Richey has drawn support from members of the British Parliament and the late Pope John Paul II. He was nearly out of appeals until the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals court ordered a new trial. The court said expert testimony could have contended that the fire wasn’t intentionally set.

This article from the Times UK spotlights the international attention that this case has long garnered.