After 20 years on death row in the US, Scotsman finally has his sentence overturned

But while family and supporters of Kenny Richey welcomed the decision, there were no immediate celebrations.

For while the Federal Court of Appeal in Cincinnati overturned Mr Richey's death sentence, it was expected prosecutors would make a further appeal.

A similar decision was made by the same court in 2005 but it was later challenged and set aside and Richey remained on death row.

If there is no appeal, the state of Ohio would have to release Richey or re-try his case within 90 days.

Richey was convicted of arson and murder in the state of Ohio in 1986 and sentenced to death on January 27 1987, but has always protested his innocence.

Richey's lawyer Ken Parsigian said: "Kenny is happy, but he is cautious.

"It is a giant leap, over a giant hurdle but we are not at the finish line yet."

If the state decide to retry Richey, Mr Parsigian said he would be applying for bail.

Mr Richey has a Scottish mother and an American father, and grew up in Edinburgh.

Now 43, he was 18 when he left his mother's home in the Scottish capital to live with his American father in Ohio, where he joined the US Marines.

In July 1986 he was arrested for the murder of two-year-old Cynthia Collins, who died in a fire at her mother's apartment.

The prosecution claimed he started the fire because his estranged former girlfriend and her new lover - supposedly the intended targets - lived in the flat beneath.

Protesting his innocence, Richey refused a plea bargain which would have led to an 11-year sentence for arson and manslaughter.