Death row appeal

THE POPE has appealed to the governors of Ohio and Texas to save death-row inmates from execution.
A letter, delivered by papal nuncio Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, called on the governors to grant clemency to David Hicks in Texas and Kenny Richey in Ohio.
Texas has scheduled the execution of David Hicks for late January. Hicks, who maintains his innocence, has been on death row since 1989, when he was convicted of raping and murdering his grandmother.
Richey has been on Ohio's death row since 1987 for the murder of a three-year-old girl, who died in a fire he was convicted of setting in an attempt to kill his ex-girlfiiend and her new boyfriend in an apartment building. Richey has also maintained his innocence. His execution date has not been set.