This is a breaking story. It will be updated.
A judge has set aside the conviction of Kevin Strickland and ordered him immediately discharged from custody.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think this day was going to come,鈥� Strickland told reporters outside the prison in Cameron, Missouri. 鈥淚 mean, not before I got this legal team, I didn鈥檛.鈥�
In a ruling Tuesday, Judge James Welsh wrote that Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker had "met her burden of providing clear and convincing evidence that undermines the Court's confidence in the judgment of conviction.鈥�
The ruling comes two weeks after the conclusion of oral arguments and witness testimony in Jackson County Circuit Court.
鈥淚 was the easy mark, and the police took advantage of it,鈥� Strickland said. 鈥淚 really appreciate (Judge Welsh) taking his time to listen and understand what really happened in 1978.鈥�
Strickland, who is 62, has spent more than 43 years in prison for a triple murder that Baker said in May he didn鈥檛 commit. Her conclusion came after a months-long investigation into new evidence that emerged in the years since Strickland鈥檚 1979 conviction.
鈥淣o physical evidence implicated Strickland in the triple homicide,鈥� Welsh wrote. 鈥淚nstead, Strickland was convicted solely on the eyewitness testimony of (Cynthia) Douglas, who subsequently recanted her statements identifying him as one of the four perpetrators.鈥�
During Strickland鈥檚 three-day innocence hearing, Baker and Strickland鈥檚 attorneys also presented affidavits from two men who pleaded guilty to the murders, Vincent Bell and Kilm Adkins. Both asserted Strickland wasn鈥檛 an accomplice.
"To say we're extremely pleased and grateful is an understatement," Baker said in a news release Tuesday. "This brings justice 鈥� finally 鈥� to a man who has tragically suffered so so greatly as a result of this wrongful conviction."
Baker was aided in her appeals for Strickland鈥檚 release by a new state law enacted this summer. The rule gave prosecutors the ability to revisit wrongful convictions in the courts that handed them down.
鈥淭his was a great act of courage by Jean Peters Baker. The rest of it sort of speaks for itself,鈥� said Edward 鈥淐hip鈥� Robertson, a former Missouri Supreme Court chief justice who was brought in by Baker as a special assistant prosecutor in the case.
Strickland鈥檚 incarceration is the longest wrongful imprisonment in Missouri, according to , and among the longest in the country. He was arrested by the Kansas City Police Department on April, 26, 1978, and convicted on June 29, 1979, when he was 18.
Strickland was being held at the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri. He was released on Tuesday afternoon, and greeted by his family, legal team, supporters and a gaggle of media.
Strickland told reporters outside the prison that learned of the judge鈥檚 decision from a news break while he was watching a soap opera inside.
鈥淥ther inmates started hollering, and I heard them beating on walls and carrying on,鈥� he said.
Strickland has always maintained his innocence. But in October, he was beginning to lose faith in the criminal justice system鈥檚 ability to correct his wrongful conviction.
鈥淭here is nothing that they can do to make that right. My whole life is a memory of prison,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know anything else.鈥�
When a reporter at Strickland鈥檚 release asked what he planned to do next, Strickland chuckled and said he didn鈥檛 know.
鈥淚 think I've created some emotions that you all don't know about just yet. 鈥� Happy, joy, sorrow, fear 鈥� I'm trying to figure out how to put them all together,鈥� he said, 鈥淚鈥檓 not necessarily angry 鈥� it鈥檚 a lot.鈥�
Chris Nuelle, a spokesman for Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who opposed Strickland's exoneration, said, 鈥淚n this case, we defended the rule of law and the decision that a jury of Mr. Strickland's peers made after hearing all the facts in the case. The Court has spoken, no further action will be taken in this matter."
In a statement, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, of Kansas City, wrote; 鈥淎lthough no one can return the 43 years that were stolen from Mr. Strickland by a broken legal system, today鈥檚 decision is a reminder that, together, we can create the reform necessary to right the wrongs of the past and implement a criminal justice system that works for all Americans.鈥�
Compensation unlikely
Strickland is the first inmate found innocent by the Jackson County prosecutor鈥檚 Conviction Review Unit, which works to prevent, identify, and fix false convictions.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, more than 80 such review units exist across the country, with three in Missouri and one in Kansas.
Strickland, though, is unlikely to be compensated for any of the time he spent in prison, because his original conviction, and his subsequent exoneration, rely on an eyewitness.
The state of Missouri , according to Sean O鈥橞rien, a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and founding board member of the Midwest Innocence Project, which has helped handle Strickland鈥檚 legal defense.
In the fraction of cases that do qualify, exonerees receive $50 for each day of post-conviction imprisonment, and only up to $36,000 a year.
鈥淭he state is aggressive about protecting the taxpayer money from judgment by exonerated people,鈥� O鈥橞rien told KCUR in June. 鈥淵ou can count on one hand, the number of people who have qualified for compensation under the statute.鈥�
In contrast, a 2018 Kansas law awards exonerees $65,000 per year of wrongful conviction, $25,000 for each year of time wrongfully spent on parole, and non-monetary benefits like housing and tuition assistance, financial literacy training, counseling and expungement of the conviction.
It鈥檚 one of the strongest compensations rules in the country, according to the Midwest Innocence Project, which has set up after his release.
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