Ohio inmate claims innocence in slaying of 3, wants retrial
COLUMBUS, Ohio — From the day of his arrest in 1994 for fatally shooting three people, Kevin Keith has proclaimed his innocence. He pointed to alibi witnesses who placed him elsewhere, an alternative suspect and a host of inconsistencies in the evidence against him.
Keith’s arguments did not stop his conviction and death sentence for killing two women and a 4-year-old girl in what prosecutors said was retaliation for his arrest in a northern Ohio drug sweep. In 2010, then-Gov. Ted Strickland commuted Keith’s sentence to life without parole, citing questions about the evidence and a “troubling” failure to investigate other suspects.
Still fighting, Keith, now 54, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant him a new trial based on evidence never heard by a jury. Keith’s lawyers say the personnel file of a state forensics investigator who worked on his case contains allegations she had a habit of providing police departments answers they wanted in cases.
Attorneys for Keith, who is black, also say the file shows the investigator was mentally unstable and used racial slurs against co-workers.