Ron
Keine
Along with three co-defendants, Ron Keine was convicted of the murder, kidnapping, sodomy and rape of University of New Mexico student William Velten in 1974 and was sentenced to die in New Mexico’s gas chamber. At the time of the murder, Ron was traveling through New Mexico with a motorcycle gang from California. “We were pretty rowdy,” he says. “We were having fun, raising hell and drinking beer. But we weren’t killers.” Throughout the trial, Ron maintained his innocence. He was unable to believe that he might be found guilty. “I didn't think they could convict four innocent men and sentence them to death,” he says. “I had faith in the American justice system. Now I know it's corrupt and broken. I don't believe the government should kill people.”
An investigation by The Detroit News after Ron and his co-defendants were sentenced uncovered lies by the prosecution’s star witness, perjured identification given under police pressure, and the use of poorly administered lie detector tests. Ron spent 22 months on death row until the real killer came forward and confessed. At one point, Ron says, he was so close to going to the gas chamber that an assistant warden came to talk to him about what he wanted for his last meal. In late 1975, a state district judge dismissed the original indictments and the four men were released in 1976 after the murder weapon was traced to a drifter from South Carolina who admitted to the killing. The murder weapon, a 22-caliber pistol, was found only after a search warrant was issued to open the sheriff's safe. Not only was the murder weapon found, there was also dated evidence showing that the gun was hidden from the defense at the original trial.
After his release, Ron returned to Michigan, where he became a successful businessman and became active in local politics. At one point, Ron held seven elected and appointed positions. His transition, however, was not easy. “It was hard to find a job,” Ron says. “I found that people read the headlines but don’t read the whole story. All they knew is that I’d been ‘involved’ in a murder. I had employers tell me they couldn't hire me because I'd be bad for employee morale and scare the women.”
Ron currently lives outside of Detroit, where he owns his own business. He speaks to groups throughout the country about having survived death row and has done numerous media interviews about his wrongful conviction and the criminal justice system. Ron has been on the Larry King show, various radio talk shows and in the summer of 2007, a PBS documentary highlighting a speech he gave at Bluffton University in Ohio was released. He has also been a practicing martial artist for more than 20 years. Ron is a dynamic speaker who frequently takes his audience on an emotional roller-coaster ride with a high-impact mixture of sadness and humor.