By James Massara
CCN News Director
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A petition for the appeal of a 1994 aggravated murder conviction of Kevin Keith was reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
On May 29, the Supreme Court denied the petition for a new trial.
According to the petition filed with the court, the basis of the appeal was questioning the integrity of G. Michele Yezzo, an agent employed by Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Keith’s defense accused Yezzo of stretching the truth to satisfy the department and of being racially biased.
The defense claimed evidence favorable to Keith’s defense had been suppressed by the state until a much later date.
According to Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall’s petition of opposition, this was Keith’s fifth attempt to receive a new trial for his case.
Crall’s opposition said Yezzo’s file contained complaints from coworkers whom she supervised and the complaints were placed in her file by an unnamed person. He added she was placed on administrative leave to speak with a counselor and then was put back to work until her retirement in 2009.
Crall said Yezzo’s testimony was not critical to the conviction of Keith, and pointed to the ruling of the various other appellate courts, which chose also to not entertain the case.
Complete documentation of petitions filed to the Supreme Court may be found on the court’s website.
Keith was sentenced to death following his 1994 conviction of killing three people Feb. 13, 1994. He received executive clemency in 2010 from then-Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.
Keith currently is serving a life sentence without the chance for parole.