By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com

The latest attempt by Kevin Keith and his attorney to seek a new trial following his 1994 conviction for a triple murder in Bucyrus has met the same fate as his other appeals: denied.

Kevin Keith is shown here at his last appearance in Crawford County Common Pleas Court when his appeal for a new trial was denied prior to his execution date. He sentence was later commuted by then Gov. Ted Strickland.

Keith had filed a motion for leave to file a motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence on Oct. 31, 2016 in Crawford County Common Pleas Court. Judge Sean Leuthold issued his decision denying that motion on Jan. 13 of this year. Keith and his attorneys appealed Leuthold’s decision to the Court of Appeals Third Appellate District in Lima.

The Appellate Court issued its denial today (June 26), writing, “Over the years in his numerous appeals and post-conviction petitions Keith has challenged many aspects of his case and the evidence against him, but one fact remains clear, the evidence against Keith was simply overwhelming.”

“That was the main thing we tried to say, there was overwhelming evidence and it wasn’t just us saying that,” said Crawford County Prosecutor Matthew Crall. “It was the Ohio Supreme Court, it was the members of the Appellate Court themselves.”

Keith was convicted after a two-week trial in 1994 of shooting to death Marichell Chatman, her 7-year-old daughter Marchae Chatman and Linda Chatman, as well as shooting and wounding an adult, Richard Chatman, and two young children, brother and sister Quanita Reeves and Quinton Reeves, at a Bucyrus Estates Apartment.

Then-prosecutor Russell Wiseman attributed the motive for the murders as revenge for a relative of the Chatmans being a drug informant.

Keith was sentenced to death for those murders and was less than two weeks away from his execution when then-Gov. Ted Strickland commuted Keith’s sentence to life without parole.

The latest pursuit of a new trial by Keith and his attorneys, like many of the others, named Rodney Melton as the person who shot the victims. That theory was rejected by the jury at Keith’s original trial and Melton himself gave testimony. Furthermore, in this request for leave to file a motion for a new trial, Keith and his attorneys focused on a scientist who once worked for the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, G. Michele Yezzo.

Yezzo’s contributions in the Keith case were her analysis of tire tracks and a license plate imprint in the snow at the apartment complex in Bucyrus where the murders occurred. Yezzo did not testify in person at Keith’s trial, but her deposition was used.

In his January decision on Keith’s October motion for leave to file a motion for a new trial, Judge Leuthold wrote, “ . . . this Court does not find that the information in Yezzo’s personnel file constitutes newly discovered evidence that would allow for a motion for new trial.”

The Appellate Court wrote, “ . . .the trial court did not abuse its discretion . . .”

“We argued that what they (Keith and his attorneys) were saying was new evidence wasn’t evidence relevant to the case and would not have changed the outcome of the trial,” Crall said.

Keith may appeal the Appellate Court’s decision to the Ohio Supreme Court which could refuse the case or hear the appeal. Keith can also further pursue a federal Brady appeal. Keith’s defense team asserted there was a Brady violation in their latest appeal to the 3rd District Appellate Court.

However, in response to that claim the court wrote in its decision, “. . . we absolutely could not find in the circumstances of this case that prejudice resulted here.”

Crawford County Prosecutor Matthew Crall

Of the 26-page decision, more than three pages were a direct quote from the Ohio Supreme Court as to facts in the case in order to provide context for the appeal. Crall called that lengthy inclusion “unusual.”

“What I want to focus on are the victims,” Crall said. “The survivors and their families remember (that night) every time this case comes up. They are living their nightmares again.”

Crall cited several people for their efforts in responding to the latest Keith appeal, including Rob Kidd from his office who argued the appeal before the Appellate Court and Brenda Leikala from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. Crall also noted the extraordinary work on the appeals done by former Crawford County Assistant Prosecutor Cliff Murphy and former Crawford County prosecutor and retired Common Pleas Court Judge Russell Wiseman for his original prosecution of the case in 1994.

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