OTTAWA, Ohio — A man who once spent 21 years on Ohio’s death row has once again been accused of issuing threats against a prosecuting attorney who had helped put him in prison, this time via social media.
Kenneth Richey, a native of Scotland who has dual citizenship in the United States, is scheduled to appear Monday afternoon before Judge Keith Schierloh at a pretrial hearing in Putnam County Common Pleas Court.
He is charged with retaliation, violating a protection order, and tampering with evidence, all third-degree felonies.
Authorities have said the charges stem from another round of threats Richey made recently against Randall Basinger, now an assistant Allen County prosecutor.
Mr. Basinger had been a judge for more than 30 years before joining the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office on a part-time basis. His tenure as a jurist was mostly as a Putnam County Common Pleas judge, but he also served as a visiting judge for 20 counties and as an appeals judge for some 200 cases, according to an online bio.
He was Putnam County’s common pleas judge in 2012 when Richey pleaded guilty to a retaliation charge that was filed after authorities believed Richey had issued a death threat against him.
Judge Basinger was an assistant Putnam County prosecutor in 1986 when Richey was charged with setting a fire that killed 2-year-old Cynthia Collins in Columbus Grove, Ohio. He was sentenced to death, but in 2008 -- after two decades on death row -- a federal appeals court overturned Richey's conviction because of problems with the arson evidence that led to his conviction.
The court ordered a new trial in Putnam County, but Richey pleaded no contest and was convicted of attempted involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment, and breaking and entering. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, given credit for time served, and released.
Richey, 55, now lives in Columbus, according to online court records.
His latest round of threats were believed to have been made in September via Facebook. Authorities have said the earlier threat, issued in 2012, was made by phone. Richey was sentenced to three years in prison for his guilty plea in that case.
Mr. Basinger, in a victim statement prior to Richey’s 2012 sentencing, said Richey had made nine threats over 25 years against him as of then, as well as threats to other people over the years. In his defense, Richey claimed past comments were taken out of context, and that at least one made to Mr. Basinger was simply a drunken prank.
Putnam County Prosecutor Gary Lammers and Assistant Putnam County Prosecutor Todd Schroeder, who has been assigned the latest case, could not be reached for comment Friday.
First Published November 4, 2019, 2:00 p.m.
