Death Row case warrants another look to ensure that justice is done
Saturday, July 11, 2009
If Ohio does not take action in the case of Death Row inmate Kevin Keith, it risks doing the intolerable: putting a person to death for a crime he did not commit. Compelling new evidence in Keith's case raises grave doubts about the validity of his conviction.
There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that Keith was convicted and sentenced to death on the basis of faulty eyewitness identification -- one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions in this country. Indeed, eyewitness misidentification has played a role in more than 75 percent of the DNA exonerations nationwide.
However, DNA is unavailable in the vast majority of cases, and it is therefore essential that protections are put in place to ensure that eyewitness identifications are reliable. Unfortunately, in Keith's case, that did not happen.
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Kathy Grant holds a picture of her cousin.
Photo by Joseph Harris
