

She initially identified Strickland as one of four men who shot the victims and testified to that during his two trials. The evidentiary hearing focused largely on testimony from Cynthia Douglas, the only person to survive the April 25, 1978, shootings. Strickland was convicted in the deaths of Larry Ingram, 21 John Walker, 20 and Sherrie Black, 22, at a home in Kansas City. Mike Parson, who declined Strickland's clemency requests, tweeted simply that: "The Court has made its decision, we respect the decision, and the Department of Corrections will proceed with Mr. "The Court has spoken, no further action will be taken in this matter." Strickland's peers made after hearing all of the facts in the case," Schmitt spokesman Chris Nuelle said in a brief statement. "In this case, we defended the rule of law and the decision that a jury of Mr. Senate, said Strickland was guilty and had fought to keep him incarcerated. "This brings justice - finally - to a man who has tragically suffered so so greatly as a result of this wrongful conviction."īut Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican running for the U.S. "To say we're extremely pleased and grateful is an understatement," she said in a statement.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who pushed for his freedom, moved quickly to dismiss the criminal charges against him so he could be released. "Under these unique circumstances, the Court's confidence in Strickland's convictions is so undermined that it cannot stand, and the judgment of conviction must be set aside," Welsh wrote in ordering Strickland's immediate release. Welsh wrote in his judgement that "clear and convincing evidence" was presented that "undermines the Court's confidence in the judgement of conviction." He noted that no physical evidence linked Strickland to the crime scene and that a key witness recanted before her death. Judge James Welsh, a retired Missouri Court of Appeals judge, ruled after a three-day evidentiary hearing requested by a Jackson County prosecutor who said evidence used to convict Strickland had since been recanted or disproven. He said he would like to get involved in efforts to "keep this from happening to someone else," saying the criminal justice system "needs to be torn down and redone."
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I am trying to figure out how to put them together." I think I've created emotions that you all don't know about just yet," he told reporters as he left the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron. He learned of the decision when the news scrolled across the television screen as he was watching a soap opera. Kevin Strickland, 62, has always maintained that he was home watching television and had nothing to do with the killings, which happened when he was 18 years old. Kevin Strickland, 62, managed a smile while talking to the media after his release from prison on Tuesday in Cameron, Mo.Ī Kansas City man who was jailed for more than 40 years for three murders was released from prison Tuesday after a judge ruled that he was wrongfully convicted in 1979.
