Kevin Keith

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. In high school, Keith played defensive tackle at Canton McKinley High School, winning a state title in 1981. Marichell Chatman, her daughter Marchae, and her aunt, Linda Chatman were killed in the shooting. Several days after the shooting, police interviewed one of the victims, Richard Warren.

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. 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.

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.

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." 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: It is my view, after a thorough review of the information and evidence available to me at this time, that it is far more likely that Mr. Keith committed these murders than it is likely that he did not. Yet, despite the evidence supporting his guilt and the substantial legal review of Mr. Keith's conviction, many legitimate questions have been raised regarding the evidence in support of the conviction and the investigation which led to it. Under these circumstances, I cannot allow Mr. Keith to be executed. Rothschild Ansaldi was initially interested in creating a television show, but thought a podcast might better explain the story. 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 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 podcast 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.