Kevin Strickland: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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{{short description|African- American man wrongfully convicted of triple homicide}}▼
{{Use mdy dates|date=AugustDecember 20212022}}
▲{{short description|African-American man wrongfully convicted of triple homicide}}
{{about|the man wrongfully convicted of murder|the bassist|Laughing Hyenas}}
{{Infobox person
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| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption =
| birth_name = <!--Kevin onlyBernard use if different from name -->Strickland
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|6|7}}<ref name=Born>{{cite web |url=https://fox4kc.com/news/missouri-lawmakers-urge-gov-parson-to-pardon-kansas-city-inmate-deemed-innocent/ |title=Missouri lawmakers urge Gov. Parson to pardon Kansas City inmate deemed innocent |date=June 7, 2021 |last=Jones |first=Kaci |website=[[WDAF-TV]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref>
| birth_place =
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| other_names =
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for = [[Miscarriage of justice|Wrongful murder conviction]]
| criminal_charge = [[Murder in Missouri law#First-degree murder|First-degree murder]], two counts of [[Murder in Missouri law#Second-degree murder|second-degree murder]] (''all overturned'')
| criminal_penalty = [[Life imprisonment in the United States|Life imprisonment]] with the possibility of [[parole]] after 50 years (''overturned'')
| status = [[Exoneration|Exonerated]] (2021)
| notable_works =
}}
'''Kevin Bernard Strickland''' (born June 7, 1959) is an [[[African-American]] man who was wrongfully convicted with no physical evidence by an [[all-white jury]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Kevin Strickland was convicted by all-white jury. That was by design, his lawyers say |last=Nozicka |first=Luke |newspaper=The Kansas City Star |date=8 June 8, 2021 |url= https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article251274479.html }}</ref> in 1979 of killing three people in [[Kansas City, Missouri]]. No [[physical evidence]] linked him to the scene of the crime and the only alleged [[witness]] later recanted her [[testimony]] that Strickland was involved, stating that she was coerced by police.<ref name=KCStar /><ref name=AP>{{cite web |url=https://apnews.com/article/mo-state-wire-michael-brown-06e726b7ef07be53ba7bdb6088282548 |title=Prosecutors: Missouri man wrongly convicted of triple murder |date=May 10, 2021 |website=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> Strickland was given a [[life sentence]].<ref name=KCUR>{{cite web |url=https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-06-02/missouri-supreme-court-will-not-consider-kevin-stricklands-innocence-case |title=Missouri Supreme Court Will Not Consider Kevin Strickland's Innocence Case |date=June 2, 2021 |last=Martin |first=Luke X. |website=[[KCUR-FM]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> In 2021, he garnered national attention after former prosecutors in his case said that he was very likely innocent and called for his release.<ref name=KCStar>{{cite web |url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article245629815.html |title=40 years behind bars, man insists he is innocent, and so do others |date=September 25, 2020 |last1=Yang |first1=Shelly |last2=Wooldridge |first2=James |website=[[The Kansas City Star]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref>
Two black men who pled guilty to the murders have said Strickland was not involved, and a [[fingerprint]] from the [[shotgun]] used in the murders belonged to someone else.<ref name=KCStar /><ref name=AP /> A black woman, Cynthia Douglas, the sole eyewitness to the crime, said detectives pressured her into naming Strickland as a perpetrator. She attempted several times to recant her testimony before her death in 2015.<ref name=AP />
Numerous legal and political figures called for Strickland's [[exoneration]]. In June 2021, the [[Supreme Court of Missouri]] denied a [[petition]] to have him released.<ref name=KCUR /> The Governor of Missouri [[Mike Parson]] refused to [[pardon]] him, saying he did not see his case as a "priority" and was not certain of his innocence.<ref name=Priority>{{cite web |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/parson-indicates-kevin-strickland-pardon-won-t-be-a-priority/article_cab0f617-0b35-5513-8672-f3bf324c3be3.html |title=Parson indicates Kevin Strickland pardon won’twon't be 'a priority' |date=June 9, 2021 |website=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/missouri-gov-mike-parson-on-kevin-strickland-i-dont-know-whether-hes-innocent-or-not |title=Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Kevin Strickland: 'I don't know whether he’she's innocent or not' |date=June 23, 2021 |last=Medina |first=Dave |website=[[KSHB-TV]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref><ref name=Irony>{{cite web |url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article253250778.html |title='Peak irony': Dems decry Parson’sParson's McCloskeys pardon as Kevin Strickland sits behind bars |date=August 4, 2021 |last1=Nozicka |first1=Luke |last2=Kuang |first2=Jeanne |website=[[The Kansas City Star]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> The office of the [[Missouri Attorney General]] fought in court to keep him in prison, saying ithe believed himhe to bewas guilty.<ref name=AG>{{cite web |url=https://apnews.com/article/michael-brown-b9748da3015f827cc009cc10cfb2478d |title=Missouri attorney general: Strickland is guilty of 3 murders |date=July 12, 2021 |website=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref>
On November 23, 2021, a white Judge James Welsh overturned Strickland's conviction "since it was not based on physical evidence but on eye-witness testimony […], who later recanted her account", and Strickland was released shortly after the decision on the same day. He was exonerated after more than 42 years in prison, "making his case the longest confirmed wrongful-conviction case in Missouri’s history".<ref name=CBS>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kevin-strickland-exonerated-triple-murder-missouri/ |title=Kevin Strickland exonerated in triple murder case after more than 40 years in prison |date=November 23, 2021 |last=Jones |first=Zoe Christen |website=[[CBS News]] |access-date=November 25, 2021}}</ref><ref name=TWP>{{cite webnews |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/23/kevin-strickland-murder-exoneration/ |title=Kevin Strickland exonerated after 43 years in one of the longest wrongful-conviction cases in U.S. history |date=November 24, 2021 |last=Bella |first=Timothy |websitenewspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=November 24, 2021}}</ref>
== Crime and trials ==
On April 25, 1978, in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], three people were killed when a group of assailants ransacked a house. The victims were 22-year-old Sherrie Black, 21-year-old Larry Ingram, and 20-year-old John Walker.<ref name=AP /> Another woman, Cynthia Douglas, Ingram's girlfriend, was shot in the leg non-fatally; she [[apparentApparent death|pretended to be dead]] until the attackers left, at which point, she crawled out of the house.<ref name=AP /><ref name=KCTV /> All of the victims were tied up and then shot.<ref name=KCTV>{{cite web |url=https://www.kctv5.com/news/investigations/jailed-kansas-city-man-innocent-after-43-years-prosecutor-and-legal-team-says/article_8fe1d582-b183-11eb-9f90-6b443970fb16.html |title=Jailed Kansas City man innocent after 43 years, prosecutor and legal team says |date=May 10, 2021 |last=Ricono |first=Angie |website=[[KCTV]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> Kevin Strickland, who was then 18 years old, said at the time he was watching [[television]] and talking on the phone, and that the next morning police began accusing him of the murders.<ref name=ABC>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/prosecutor-man-wrongfully-imprisoned-decades-remains-bars/story?id=78209794 |title=Prosecutor says man was wrongfully imprisoned for decades, yet he remains behind bars |date=June 11, 2021 |last1=Davis |first1=Linsey |last2=Schwartz-Lavares |first2=Ashley |last3=Abdul-Hakim |first3=Gabriella |last4=Yang |first4=Allie |last5=Amiel |first5=Andrea |last6=Frost |first6=Meredith |last7=Tienabeso |first7=Seni |website=[[ABC News]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref>
Two suspects, Kilm Adkins and Vincent Bell, were later arrested. Bell was a childhood friend of Strickland's, and lived at a house nearby. Police found a fingerprint belonging to Strickland on Bell's car; Strickland says this was because he had driven the car before, but the last time he had seen Adkins and Bell was at 5 or 6 p.m. on the night of the murders.<ref name=ABC /> A fingerprint from the [[shotgun]] used in the murders belonged to someone other than Strickland who has not yet been identified.<ref name=AP /> Douglas, the only eyewitness, laterfirst stated she could not identify other perpetrators (two other guys) but Adkins and Bell. Later, when police arrested Strickland,<ref>"The record is unclear as to why and how Strickland became a suspect"... In: State of Missouri v. Kevin Strickland (Case No. 16CR79000361 Div. 18)</ref> she picked out Stricklandhim in a [[police lineup]].<ref>"Strickland was one of the four individuals participating in the lineup. Police asked Douglas to identify Strickland, as opposed to asking her to identify the perpetrator with the shotgun." In: State of Missouri v. Kevin Strickland (Case No. 16CR79000361 Div. 18)</ref><ref name=ABC/><ref name= MotionToSetAside>[https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/1801/MotiontoSetAsidetheJudgment State of Missouri v. Kevin Strickland (Case No. 16CR79000361 Div. 18)] (In 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri at Kansas City, August 28, 2021.)</ref> Douglas later said she was pressured into naming him as one of the perpetrators by detectives on the case, and until her death in 2015 attempted to have her testimony recanted.<ref name=AP /> In 2009, she emailed the [[Midwest Innocence Project]], saying, "I am seeking info on how to help someone that was wrongfully accused. I was the only eyewitness and things were not clear back then, but now I know more and would like to help this person if I can."<ref name=ABC /> Douglas said police told her, "Just pick Strickland out of the lineup and we'll be done, it will all go away, you can go on and you don’t have to worry about these guys no more."<ref name=KCTV /> Adkins and Bell confessed to the murders, but said Strickland was not a participant.<ref name=ABC />
Strickland's first trial ended in a [[hung jury]], with the only black juror refusing to find him guilty. According to Strickland, after the trial, the prosecutor approached his lawyer and said "I'll make sure this doesn't happen next time."<ref name=ABC /> Strickland's current lawyer, Tricia Rojo Bushnell of the Midwest Innocence Project, said the prosecutor used each of his [[peremptory challenge]]s to strike black jurors, resulting in the next trial having an [[all-white jury]].<ref name=ABC />
Strickland was convicted in 1979, one year after being arrested, and sentenced to [[life imprisonment]] without the chance of [[parole]] for 50 years.<ref name=KCUR /><ref name=ABC /> Adkins and Bell later cut [[plea bargain]]s, pled guilty and were sentenced to 20 years, each of them serving less than 10 years. Others were suspected but not charged.<ref name=TWP /><ref>[https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/1801/MotiontoSetAsidetheJudgment Statename= ofMotionToSetAside Missouri v. Kevin Strickland (Case No. 16CR79000361 Div. 18)] (In 16th Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri at Kansas City, August 28, 2021.)</ref> Strickland tried to appeal in 1980, but it was dismissed by [[Supreme Court of Missouri]].<ref>[https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/supreme-court/1980/61528-0.html State v. Strickland (Appellant), 609 S.W.2d 392 (1980), No. 61528.] ([[Supreme Court of Missouri]], 1981)</ref>
== Calls for release ==
Strickland was the subject of an investigation by ''[[The Kansas City Star]]'' in September 2020, which prompted prosecutors to review the case.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article245920830.html |title=Kevin Strickland is serving life for 1978 murders. The guilty men, only witness said he's innocent. |date=September 27, 2020 |last=Nozicka |first=Luke |website=[[The Kansas City Star]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/kevin-strickland-has-been-jailed-for-43-years-now-prosecutors-say-hes-innocent |title=He's Been Jailed for 43 Years. Now Prosecutors Say He's Innocent. |date=May 10, 2021 |last=Connor |first=Tracy |website=[[The Daily Beast]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> On May 10, 2021, [[Jackson County, Missouri|Jackson County]] prosecutor Jean Peters Baker published a letter saying she believed he was innocent and should be released from prison.<ref name=AP /> Former prosecutors in Strickland's case have said they think he is innocent as well, as have federal prosecutors for the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri]].<ref name=AP /> [[Mayor of Kansas City]] [[Quinton Lucas]] and more than a dozen state lawmakers, including [[Andrew McDaniel]], the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] chair to the [[Missouri House of Representatives]]' committee overseeing prisons, have sought to have him released.<ref name=AP /><ref name=ABC />
The [[Supreme Court of Missouri]] denied a [[petition]] to release Strickland in June 2021.<ref name=KCUR /> In August 2021, Governor of Missouri [[Mike Parson]] refused to [[pardon]] him, having previously said that Strickland's case was not a "priority" and that he was not sure of Strickland's innocence.<ref name="Priority" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/missouri-gov-mike-parson-on-kevin-strickland-i-dont-know-whether-hes-innocent-or-not |title=Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Kevin Strickland: 'I don't know whether he's innocent or not' |date=June 23, 2021 |last=Medina |first=Dave |website=[[KSHB-TV]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref><ref name=Irony /> The [[editorial board]] of ''[[The Washington Post]]'', as well as some prominent [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] figures, negatively contrasted Parson's decision not to pardon Strickland with his choice to pardon Patricia and [[Mark Thomas McCloskey|Mark McCloskey]], the couple involved in the June 2020 [[St. Louis gun-toting controversy|brandishing weapons against protesters controversy]].<ref name=Irony /><ref>{{cite webnews |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/05/missouri-governor-pardon-power-mccloskeys-innocent-black-men-prison/ |title=Missouri's governor uses his pardon power — but not for two innocent Black men in prison |date=August 5, 2021 |websitenewspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> Mark McCloskey has filed as a candidate in the 2022 Missouri Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.<ref>[https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article255322891.html Missouri Senate candidate Mark McCloskey says teen incest victims should be denied abortions], ''[[Kansas City Star]]'', Jeanne Guang and Jonathan Shorman, October 27, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.</ref> Assistant attorney general of Missouri, Andrew Clarke, said the attorney general's office believes Strickland to be guilty and thinks he should remain in prison, saying that Strickland had "worked to evade responsibility."<ref name=AG /> In August 2021, the attorney general's office issued Baker a [[subpoena]] requiring her to turn over any communication with third parties regarding Strickland. Baker termed that action as [[harassment]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-08-18/how-the-legal-battle-in-missouri-over-kevin-stricklands-exoneration-became-political |title=How The Legal Battle In Missouri Over Kevin Strickland's Exoneration Became Political |date=August 18, 2021 |last=Martin |first=Luke X. |website=[[KCUR-FM]] |access-date=August 19, 2021}}</ref>
== Hearing leading to exoneration ==
In November 2021, Baker coordinated a three-day hearing, to present the case for the reversal of Strickland's verdicts.<ref name=judge>[https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article255718841.html Kevin Strickland's fate in judge's hands Baker urges him to right a 'terrible mistake'], ''[[Kansas City Star]]'', Luke Nozicka, November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2020.</ref> She said, "One of the reasons I'm proud of this system, and one of the reasons I know that it is one of the best systems in the world even when we stand amid a terrible mistake, is because we have built into our system an ability to correct wrongs." "I now trust in you to return just a fraction of what we've all lost, what Mr. Strickland lost, by bringing him home."<ref name=judge/> The last of a dozen witnesses, former Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice [[Edward D. Robertson Jr.]], argued that the preserved subsequent testimony and frequent recantations of her pre-trial interviews and trial testimony by Cynthia Douglas, upon whose word the entire original persuasive evidence of guilt rested, also constituted "the entire case" for the reversals.<ref name=judge/>
Judge James Welsh wrote on November 23, 2021, after Strickland had spent more than 42 years in prison: "Under these unique circumstances, the Court's confidence in Strickland's conviction is so undermined that it cannot stand, and the judgment of conviction must be set aside. The State of Missouri shall immediately discharge Kevin Bernard Strickland from its custody."<ref name=TWP />
== Personal life ==
Kevin Strickland was born on June 7, 1959<ref name=Born />, and is the father of one daughter.<ref name="ABC" /><ref name=Born /> Strickland uses a [[wheelchair]] and said that he had "experienced a couple of heart attacks... I got high blood pressure. My ability to stand is diminished."<ref name=ABC /> His father died in 2011.<ref name=ABC /> PriorHis to his exonerationmother, StricklandRosetta saidThornton upondied hison releaseAugust that21, he2021, wantedmere tomonths seebefore thehis oceanexoneration.<ref name=ABC />[https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-09-04/as-his-family-mourns-their-mothers-death-in-kansas-city-kevin-strickland-remains-behind-bars HeMartin, laterLuke saidX. that(2021). he wanted"As tohis visitFamily hisMourns mothertheir Mother's graveDeath toin pay hisKansas respectsCity, addingKevin thatStrickland ifRemains theyBehind droveBars." past it''NPR withoutin stoppingKansas he(KCUR)''. would get4 outSeptember of2021.] theRetrieved car19 andAugust crawl2023.</ref> backPrior onto his handsexoneration, andStrickland kneessaid upon his release that he wanted to see the ocean.{{cn|date<ref name=NovemberABC 2021}}/>
== Compensation ==
Though Kevin Strickland served the longest prison time wrongfully convicted in Missouri's history, he did not qualify for compensation from the state, because the law allows it only if an exoneration is based on [[DNA evidence]]. However, the Midwest Innocence Project initiated a [[crowdfunding|fundraising campaign]] for him through [[GoFundMe]] in June 2021, which raised more than $200,000 by the time of his release.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.newsweek.com/kevin-strickland-exonerated-gofundme-missouri-fundraiser-raises-200k-1652807 |title= Kevin Strickland GoFundMe Raises Over $200K After He Is Exonerated |date= November 24, 2021 |website= [[Newsweek]]}}</ref> If his case qualified for state compensation, the amount could be much more; in other states compensation of over $20 million was paid in similar cases.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-pardon-idUSKCN1QD0RQ |title= California man who spent 39 years in prison gets $21 million for wrongful conviction |date= February 24, 2019 |websitepublisher= [[Reuters]] |access-date= November 24, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.npr.org/2019/10/02/765786518/jury-awards-27-million-to-massachusetts-man-wrongfully-convicted-of-murder?t=1637757133639 |title= Jury Awards $27 Million To Massachusetts Man Wrongfully Convicted Of Murder |date= October 2, 2019 |websitework=[[Morning Edition]] |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date= November 24, 2021}}</ref> In few days after his release, donations multiplied and the raised amount went over $1 million by more than 14,000 people.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/25/us/kevin-strickland-funds-raised-wrongful-imprisonment-trnd/index.html |title= Thousands of people have raised more than $1 million for a man who served 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit |date= November 25, 2021 |websitepublisher= [[CNN]] |access-date= November 26, 2021}}</ref><!-- website is on blacklist -- <ref>{{cite web |url=https:// --– .com/f/help-kevin-strickland-after-wrongful-conviction |title= Help Kevin Strickland After Wrongful Conviction |access-date= November 26, 2021 |websitepublisher= [[GoFundMe]]}}</ref> -->
== References ==
{{ref-list}}
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[[Category:2021 controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Missouri]]▼
[[Category:Wheelchair users]]
[[Category:Overturned convictions in the United States]]
[[Category:PeopleAmerican people wrongfully convicted of murder]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Missouri]]
▲[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Missouri]]