An Ohio appeals court heard argument on June 6 on whether to grant a new trial to former death-row prisoner Kevin Keith (pictured), whose death sentence was commuted to life without parole by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland in 2010 amid concerns that he may be innocent. Keith, who has consistently maintained his innocence of the three 1994 murders for which he was sentenced to death, presented argument to the Ohio Court of Appeals for the 3rd District based on newly discovered evidence that the state forensic analyst whose controversial tire-track analysis linked him to the crimes had an undisclosed record of misconduct. Forensic analyst G. Michele Yezzo testified at Keith’s trial that a license plate imprint of the numbers 043 left in a snow bank at the crime scene matched Keith’s girlfriend’s car, and that, by looking at a tire brochure, she could conclude that tire tracks also matched the car. No other forensic evidence linked Keith to the crime. In addition, a seven-year-old survivor who was shown a photo array of suspects excluded Keith’s photo and told the police that it was her “Daddy’s friend, Bruce” who shot them, and several alibi witnesses testified that Keith was more than 30 minutes away when the shootings took place. An alternate suspect who drove a car fitting eyewitness descriptions of the getaway car and that had a 043 in its license plate number also had a brother named Bruce. During the June 6 argument, Keith’s lawyer, Rachel Troutman, told the Court of Appeals, “That expert [Yezzo] was known to the state — though not to Mr. Keith — as someone who will stretch the truth to satisfy a department. Since the trial her forensic conclusions have proven faulty.” Yezzo’s personnel file said her analysis was untrustworthy, co-workers thought she suffered from a “severe mental imbalance,” she used racial slurs in describing a minority co-worker, and supervisors and colleagues noted her “findings and conclusions regarding the truth may be suspect.” Prosecutors said they expected the court’s decision, which can be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, to be issued within a period of several weeks to several months.

(J. Flom, “Prosecutors have a duty to correct Kevin Keith’s wrongful murder conviction: Jason Flom (Opinion),” Cleveland.com, June 2, 2017; Z. Tuggle, “Oral arguments in Kevin Keith appeal presented,” Telegraph-Forum, June 6, 2017.) See Innocence.

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