The exoneration of Kevin Strickland, who spent almost 43 years in prison for murders he didn’t commit, has spotlighted the cruel cynicism of Missouri’s political leadership, with both the governor and attorney general refusing to correct this injustice due to political considerations. It’s also spotlighting an injustice in Missouri law, which doesn’t allow compensation to be paid for wrongly imprisoned people unless DNA evidence is part of their exoneration.
That’s a senseless standard that doesn’t take into account a situation like Strickland’s, in which even prosecutors now acknowledge his innocence. The law should be updated to compensate any imprisoned Missourian found to have been wrongfully convicted. Conservative lawmakers should be the first to acknowledge the gross injustice and need for just compensation when the state deprives an innocent person of his or her life or liberty.
Strickland, who is Black, was convicted in a 1978 triple murder in Kansas City by an all-white jury despite a lack of any physical evidence tying him to the crime. Two men who confessed said Strickland, 18 at the time, wasn’t involved. The shotgun used in the murders had someone else’s fingerprint on it. The sole witness to put Strickland at the scene later recanted, saying he wasn’t there and that she’d been pressured by police to name him.
