Kim Kardashian tackles Canton man's case on 'The System' podcast

CANTON − Charles Keith's 30-year quest to overturn his younger brother Kevin's conviction for a 1994 triple murder in Bucyrus recently got a boost from one of the world's most-recognized celebrities.

Kim Kardashian is executive producer and co-host of "The System," a top criminal-justice podcast on Spotify. The eight-part series recaps the events surrounding Kevin Keith's arrest and conviction on charges he killed two women and a child on Feb. 14, 1994, and seriously injured a man and two other young children.

Police said Keith committed the killings in retaliation over drug dealing.

Keith, a former McKinley High School football star, has always maintained his innocence. He was set to be executed for the crime in 2010, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison by then-Gov. Ted Strickland, largely due to the efforts of Charles Keith, who works as a family liaison with Death Penalty Action, a national anti-death penalty organization.

Kevin Keith's numerous attempts to appeal his conviction have been unsuccessful.

In addition to her career, Kardashian is studying law and has taken up the cause of criminal justice reform. In 2020, she successfully lobbied former President Donald Trump to grant a presidential pardon to Alice Johnson, who served decades in prison on a drug-trafficking conviction.

The podcast was the brainchild of Lori Rothschild Ansaldi, a producer in Los Angeles who specializes in true-crime stories. She also is making a documentary about the Keiths.

Rothschild Ansaldi said she first contacted Charles Keith in 2017 after hearing about his story from a woman in Ohio who had solved her own mother's murder.

"I said 'I'm a TV producer from California,' and he said, 'I've been waiting for your call my entire life,''' she said with a laugh. "It took a couple of years for me to understand the case, and obviously to understand what kind of media would help Kevin. "

Rothschild Ansaldi said that after she read a 2017 Cleveland Scene story about the case, she immediately felt that the elements of the case didn't add up.

"I immediately thought, as television producer, 'Wow, this probably is really a great documentary,'" she said. "I wanted to do the documentary for television, but also was kind of thinking, what's the end game? Is it going to help? Are we doing this for entertainment purposes, or are we really going to help somebody, change the system and conversation? Then, we starting thinking about different mediums."

The goal is justice

Inspired by podcast and the Netflix docuseries "Making a Murderer," which recently helped to exonerate Adnan Sayed, who was wrongly accused of killing his girlfriend, Rothschild Ansaldi said they began to consider producing a podcast for Kevin Keith.

"We thought this was a way that we could actually get the story across, tell it accurately, then let the audience decide what they think, and give it space to the amount of information and misinformation that is plaguing the case," she said.

Rothschild Ansaldi said podcasts offer a sense of intimacy in storytelling.

"If someone is actually hearing voices in their ears, I know it's a strange phenomenon, but it's a very personal way of consuming media," she said.

Rothschild Ansaldi said she connected with Kardashian through a fellow producer while under contract at Freemantle Productions, creator of such shows as "Celebrity Family Feud" and "America's Got Talent."

"People would walk past my my office, and I would be like one of the crazy people, like a detective with cork boards covered with pictures and strings," she said. "They got to know about the Kevin Keith case through me telling them about it. At this time, Charles and I were having a lot of conversations with a lot of celebrities like Meek Mill, Mary J. Blige, T.I. and Jay-Z Roc Nation (the musician's company). We went around everywhere talking to people about this case and thinking about which voice would make sense.

"Again, the goal of this is to not make us rich and famous; the goal is to get Kevin Keith justice, and also justice for the Chapmans (the victims), who lost their lives that night."

Rothschild Ansaldi said Kardashian invited her to her home to discuss the case. She noted that Kardashian, who has 520 million Instagram followers − surpassing some small countries − did more than lend her name to the project.

"I think I went over about noon, and by the end of the day, her legal team had kind of come and started looking at the case," she said. "Kim has been super hands-on this case. She is passionate about Kevin's story, and she believes in his innocence. She wants to make sure a fair story is told. She's 100 percent behind this case and wants to make sure that Ohio hears what we're saying."

"The story's not over"

Charles Keith said he was elated upon hearing the news of Kardashian's involvement. He said the star, who is the daughter of a defense attorney who helped represent O.J. Simpson during his murder trial, has more of an understanding of how criminal law works than most people.

He met Kardashian earlier this year in Calabassas, California, where she resides. She could not be reached for comment for this story.

"I knew she had her criminal justice reform thing going on," Charles Keith said. "I said I couldn't have a better voice. When I met her, she was so sincere. It's hard to describe a celebrity of her magnitude when you talk about sincerity. But man, she stole my heart. She's there. She's locked in."

Charles Keith said Kardashian has spoken to his brother several times, and has arranged for billboards advertising the podcast throughout Los Angeles, New York and London.

"She didn't have to do that," he said. "What she had done is plenty enough, just by lending her voice and platform."

Rothschild Ansaldi recalled that Kardashian was impressed with Charles Keith.

"When she met Charles for the first time, she said it was an extraordinary moment," she said. "And she said 'You know, every time I look at case, I always think 'what would Charles Keith do in this situation?' She said 'You've become a mentor for me.' I'm so happy for Charles, because that's what you have to do in these cases. You have to be an advocate for your family."

Episodes of "The System" are released on Mondays.

"For me, just to hear my story narrated and articulated, they even have me spellbound," Keith said. "I've listened to each episode four or five times, because I've never heard my story from anyone else, and it just blew me away."

Rothschild Ansaldi said she'll continue to work on the Keiths' documentary because "The story's not over."

"It's not going to be over until Kevin comes home," she said. "But even then, there's a whole other story to tell. What What about Marichelle, Marchae and Linda Chatman? Where is the justice in those cases? Do the police actually go back and find the real people who committed these crimes? I think the that's the next step in a wrongful conviction; making sure these cases aren't closed. They become cold cases."

Rothschild Ansaldi said they reached out the survivors of the Bucyrus shooting for the podcast, but none wanted to participate, including one former child witness who initially identified someone else as the killer. Some of the survivors have criticized the podcast in other media.

More:Survivors dispute Kim Kardashian crime podcast

No physical evidence has ever connected Kevin Keith to the crime.

"But our hearts are still with the people who suffered that night," she sad.

Rothschild Ansaldi urges people who listen the "The System" podcast to draw their own conclusions.

"Don't just listen to Charles, don't just listen to me, or Rachel Troutman, Kevin's lawyer," she said. "Really think about it. What if it was your husband, your father or brother? Is this the way we should have our criminal justice system working, because it failed on so many levels with Kevin Keith."

Reach Charita at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Kim Kardashian "The System" podcast focuses on Cantonian Kevin Keith