Missouri judge exonerates Kevin Strickland after serving 43 years for wrongful conviction

By Associated Press, The Grio

Strickland, 62, has always maintained that he was home watching television and had nothing to do with the killings, which happened when he was 18 years old.

…Strickland was convicted in the deaths of Larry Ingram, 21; John Walker, 20; and Sherrie Black, 22, at a home in Kansas City.

The evidentiary hearing focused largely on previous testimony from Cynthia Douglas, the only person to survive the April 25, 1978, shootings. She initially identified Strickland as one of four men who shot the victims and testified to that during his two trials.

But she later said she was pressured by police to choose Strickland and tried for years to alert political and legal experts to help her prove she had identified the wrong man, according to testimony during the hearing from her family, friends and a co-worker. Douglas died in 2015…

Two other men convicted in the killings later insisted that Strickland wasn’t at the crime scene, The Kansas City Star reported. They named two other suspects, who were never charged.

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