Report here has it that Kevin Strickland was 18 years old when he was arrested for a triple homicide, a crime he did not commit.
In September 2020 the Kansas City Star ran a series that cast doubt on Strickland’s guilt. This prompted local prosecutors to review the evidence, and in April 2021 they declared him “factually innocent”. Republican Governor Mike Parson, the only person with authority to release him, did not do so.
On August 28, 2021 Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker filed for a new evidentiary hearing under a fresh Missouri law designed to address wrongful convictions. Even then Missouri’s Republican Attorney-General Eric Schmitt fought Strickland’s release.
Strickland was released earlier this week. He is now 62 years old. His mother died in August, with his potential release still pending. Governor Parson refused permission for Strickland to attend his mother’s funeral.
In September 2020 the Kansas City Star ran a series that cast doubt on Strickland’s guilt. This prompted local prosecutors to review the evidence, and in April 2021 they declared him “factually innocent”. Republican Governor Mike Parson, the only person with authority to release him, did not do so.
On August 28, 2021 Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker filed for a new evidentiary hearing under a fresh Missouri law designed to address wrongful convictions. Even then Missouri’s Republican Attorney-General Eric Schmitt fought Strickland’s release.
Strickland was released earlier this week. He is now 62 years old. His mother died in August, with his potential release still pending. Governor Parson refused permission for Strickland to attend his mother’s funeral.
I wonder (assuming that this report is factual) whether there is cause to believe that Schmitt and Parson are fit for public office.
The report continues
Strickland is among more than 100 prisoners whose convictions have been overturned in 2021. Almost 2900 prisoners have been cleared since DNA evidence first reversed a conviction in 1989. Half of these innocent people were Black, 133 exonerees were death row inmates. Wrongful convictions are estimated to occur in 2% - 10% of cases. 2.1 million people are imprisoned in America.
If those estimates are valid, at least 21,000 innocent people are incarcerated in American prisons, maybe as many as 210,000.
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