Kevin Strickland.Photo: Courtesy Midwest Innocence Project
A Missouri man who has served more than 42 years in prison for a triple-murder should be set free because the evidence used to convict him doesn’t add up, says the prosecutor whose office put the man behind bars.
“All those who have reviewed the evidence in recent months agree – Kevin Strickland deserves to be exonerated,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said ina statementreleased Monday. “This is a profound error we must correct now.”
Immediately after the shooting, Douglas named two other men, Vincent Bell and Kilm Adkins, who both wound up pleading guilty.
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“I am seeking info on how to help someone that was wrongfully accused, this incident happened back in 1978, 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,” she wrote.
Douglas has since died, but “for many years until her death in 2015, Douglas repeatedly expressed to her family members and others both her doubts about her identification of Strickland and her wish to see him exonerated,“according to the Innocence Project.
On Monday the Innocence Project and its partner attorneys filed a petition asking the Missouri Supreme Court to release and exonerate Strickland.
“Once she became aware of her mistake, Ms. Douglas did everything she could to free Mr. Strickland and she bears no responsibility for the years Mr. Strickland has lost,” Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Innocence Project, said in a statementannouncing the petition. “Mr. Strickland’s conviction was the failure of a system and the injustice of his continued incarceration harms not only him, but the families of the victims, who must continue to relive this horrible crime as we fight to correct this injustice.”
Baker’s statement on behalf of the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, which began reviewing the case last fall after theStarinvestigation and a request from an attorney for the Innocence Project, said: “For a variety of reasons, including Strickland representing himself on appeal, the full picture of this error of justice was not made clear until recent months.”
It added: “The judge who presided over the trial, as well as the lead prosecutor on the case, Jim Humphrey, are both deceased. Another member of the trial team — James Bell, now an attorney in private practice — reviewed the new evidence and stated that it indicates that Strickland should be set free. Bell added: ‘If Jim Humphrey were alive, and was made aware of Cynthia’s efforts to recant, he would be leading the effort to get Kevin Strickland free.'”
No timetable has been released for the Missouri Supreme Court to consider the petition for Strickland’s release and exoneration.
“The truth of Mr. Strickland’s innocence was known over 42 years ago,” Bob Hoffman, an attorney who also represents Strickland, said in a news release from the Innocence Project. “Strickland’s case is yet one more example of how long and difficult it is to overturn a wrongful conviction. It shouldn’t be this hard.”
source: people.com
