Kevin Keith

In 2022, Quanita Reeves, who was six at the time of the shooting, and Quentin Reeves, who was four, claimed that they were visiting their cousin Marichell Chatman at the time of the crime. They claimed that when they went downstairs to eat dinner there was a knock on the door and Kevin Keith was there, wearing no mask or gloves. The Reeves' said that they knew Keith because he was Marichell's ex-boyfriend, but did not know he was a drug dealer and that Marichell's brother, Rudel Chatman, was an informant who had recently helped to expose a drug ring involving Keith. They said Keith was carrying a bag which he said was full of laundry and asked for a drink of water. After drinking several glasses of water and realizing that Rudel Chatman was not there, the Reeves' claimed that Keith pulled a gun from the bag and shot the family. Quanita claims that she gave police the wrong name when she was in the hospital but that she is positive Keith was the shooter.

In 2022, Strickland stated that he wished he had completely commuted Keith's sentence and that he had expressed this to the current governor Mike DeWine.

In 2017, producer Lori Rothschild Ansaldi heard about Keith's case and began talking with him. Rothschild Ansaldi was initially interested in creating a television show, but thought a podcast might better explain the story. She connected with Kim Kardashian, who expressed support for the commutation of Keith's sentence in July 2019. On October 3, 2022, Kardashian released the first episode of a podcast created with Spotify titled The System: The Case of Kevin Keith, which gained international attention. Following its release, the podcast was ranked number one on the charts. The eight-episode podcast outlines the discrepancies throughout Keith's case. On the podcast, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael P. Donnelly agreed to an interview "to demonstrate the need to reform the post conviction process in Ohio for those who claim they are wrongly convicted" and stated that "Kevin Keith's case should concern anyone who is concerned with the integrity of the system." On episode eight of the podcast, Kardashian spoke with former Governor Ted Strickland, who stated that he wished he had fully commuted Keith's sentence in 2010.

In October 2022, surviving victims Quentin and Quanita Reeves criticized the podcast, claiming that they were never contacted and that they do not care about new evidence. When the podcast premiered, Quentin stated "We saw it with our own eyes. You don’t forget something like that. I don't care what Kim Kardashian says – Kevin did it." Quanita said that Kim Kardashian "did not contact us, not one time. If Kim Kardashian wants to get involved, she should come and meet us face-to-face." The producers of the podscast claim the survivors of the shooting were contacted multiple times but declined to participate in the podcast and asked the production team to stop contacting them. Quanita later stated in November 2022 that she had blocked Rothschild Ansaldi's number a few years prior, which explained the miscommunication about whether they had been contacted.

In 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reviewed the evidence and stated that "no reasonable factfinder would have found him guilty." Following the Sixth Circuit's decision, Keith was allowed to present new evidence to Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio contesting his conviction.

On October 28, 2016, Keith and his lawyer, public defender Rachel Troutman, filed a motion for new trial in the Ohio Third District Court of Appeals, claiming the state failed to make Brady disclosures regarding a witness, G. Michele Yezzo. Keith claimed that the state relied heavily upon the testimony of Yezzo, a forensic analyst at the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, who provided a crucial link between Keith and the crime scene. He claimed Yezzo's personnel file showed that Yezzo was mentally unstable and that her forensic conclusions were untrustworthy. Yezzo's personnel file included allegations that she habitually provided police departments the answers they wanted in cases. Yezzo had previously been placed on administrative leave and was actively under investigation at the time she worked on Keith's case. Evidence also included a copy of radio dispatch logs from the Bucyrus Police Department. The department had claimed they had obtained Keith's name from a hospital nurse who had called and told them that a shooting victim had identified Keith as the perpetrator, but the dispatch logs did not reflect the call and a note to "ignore for now" was written at the top of a subpoena for the dispatch logs. On January 13, 2017, Crawford County Common Pleas Judge Sean Leuthold denied Keith's motion for new trial, stating that the he did not find that "the information in Yezzo's personnel file constitutes newly discovered evidence that would allow for a motion for new trial."

In 2010, judges ruled that the evidence against Keith was "compelling, persuasive and overwhelming."

Keith was scheduled to be executed on September 15, 2010, by lethal injection, by a unanimous recommendation of the parole board. On September 2, 2010, Ohio governor Ted Strickland commuted Keith's sentence to life without parole, noting that there were questions about the evidence and a "troubling" failure to investigate other suspects. At the time, Strickland released a statement explaining his decision:

On February 13, 1994, three people were killed and three people were injured in a shooting at the Bucyrus Estates apartments in Bucyrus, Ohio. Marichell Chatman, her daughter Marchae, and her aunt, Linda Chatman were killed in the shooting. Marichell Chatman's boyfriend, Richard Warren, and her cousins, six-year-old Quanita Reeves and four-year-old Quentin Reeves were wounded. Warren, who was shot in the jaw, took off running toward a restaurant and was shot again in the buttocks. At the restaurant Warren told four people, including one police officer, that he did not know who had shot him.

The Bucyrus Police Department and Crawford County prosecutors claimed that Keith carried out the shooting in retaliation for his January 1994 arrest for selling 2.6 grams of crack cocaine, which had resulted from information received from Rudel Chatman. At the time, Rudel Chatman was a confidential informant for the Galion Police Department. Keith was arrested on February 15, 1994, and his bond was set for $1 million. He was never questioned by the police.

Keith's trial began on May 10, 1994, only a few months after the murders, and he was represented by attorney James Banks, who had never worked on a capital murder case before. At trial, the prosecution claimed that Keith was trying to retaliate against Rudel Chatman for his role as an informant in the drug bust that led to Keith's January 1994 arrest. Keith presented multiple alibi witnesses which placed him about thirty miles away from the crime. Keith claimed that he spent the evening of February 13, 1994, with his two girlfriends. He claimed that at around 6 p.m. he was at the home of his girlfriend, Melanie Davison, in Mansfield, Ohio. Neighbors testified that at approximately 8:45 p.m., the time of the shooting, Keith and Davison left Davison's home in a blue car that belonged to another girlfriend of Kevin's. At around 9 p.m. they arrived at Keith's aunt's home in Crestline, Ohio, and Keith went inside to talk to his uncle, Roy Price, to borrow five dollars. Keith claimed that they left his aunt's home ten minutes later and returned to Davison's home at 9:25 p.m.

Quanita and Quentin Reeves did not testify in the trial because they were still in the hospital and Quanita's statement that the shooter was Bruce Melton was not entered. No forensic evidence connected Keith to the crime. The jury found Keith guilty and sentenced him to death on June 1, 1994. Two Bucyrus police officers resigned immediately following Keith's conviction.

Keith was raised in Crestline, Ohio, where he lived at the time of the crime. Keith has one brother, Charles. In high school, Keith played defensive tackle at Canton McKinley High School, winning a state title in 1981. As Keith got older, he began dealing drugs to make a living.

Kevin Keith (born December 18, 1963) is an American prisoner and former death row inmate from Ohio who was convicted of the 1994 triple-homicide that killed Marichell Chatman, her daughter Marchae, and Linda Chatman. In 2022, his case received international attention due to claims of innocence and controversy surrounding his trial and conviction highlighted on a podcast hosted by Kim Kardashian titled The System: The Case of Kevin Keith.