Kevin Strickland is going home. Here’s 5 things to know about judge who ruled on case

Judge James Edward Welsh ruled Tuesday that Kevin Strickland, a Kansas City man prosecutors say was wrongfully convicted for a triple murder in the 1970s, will be freed after more than four decades in prison.

During a recent evidentiary hearing, Jackson County prosecutors and Strickland’s attorneys presented more than a dozen witnesses to prove his innocence in an April 25, 1978, triple homicide, arguing that Strickland, 62, has wrongly spent more than 42 years in prison.

Welsh’s decision to exonerate Strickland means his imprisonment is the longest confirmed wrongful conviction in Missouri history.

In September, the Missouri Supreme Court disqualified Jackson County judges from hearing Strickland’s case after a request from the Missouri Attorney General’s Office was granted.

The office contended there was an appearance of bias in the 16th Circuit Court because its presiding judge, J. Dale Youngs, said he “concurs on behalf” of the court that Strickland should be exonerated. The Missouri Supreme Court decided to disqualify local judges to “avoid even the appearance of partiality or impropriety.”

The court appointed Welsh to preside over Strickland’s exoneration case in place of Jackson County Judge Kevin Harrell.

Welsh is a retired judge for the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals. He was appointed by former Gov. Matt Blunt in November 2007 and retired from the position in March 2018. He presided over this case as a one-time ruling as a part of the Supreme Court’s decision to change judges.

Here are five other things to know about Judge Welsh:

Welsh earned both his undergraduate and law degrees at St. Louis University. He got his bachelor’s in aeronautics at SLU’s Parks College of Engineering, Aviation, and Technology in 1969 and his law degree from St. Louis University School of Law in 1975.

After law school, he worked at McDonnell Douglas, an aerospace manufacturing corporation that eventually merged with Boeing. He then clerked for Judge William E. Turnage, a Missouri Court of Appeals judge for the Western District.

Prior to becoming an appellate judge, Welsh served on the Clay County Circuit Court from 1988 to 2007. He often presided as a juvenile and administrative judge for family court.

Welsh is a member of the Missouri Bar, Clay County Bar and the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar. He has served as a member of the Gender Bias Task Force Implementation Committee, Sentencing Commission, Juvenile Rules Work Group and Commission on Children’s Justice.

He was the president and vice president of the Missouri Circuit Judges Association and the director, treasurer and secretary of the Missouri Municipal and Associate Circuit Judges Association.

In 2017, the Missouri Auto Group Association sued to block the state from issuing dealer licenses to electric car maker Tesla, according to reporting from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A lower circuit court initially sided with the suit.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, reversed the lower court’s judgment, and Welsh concurred on the ruling.

This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 12:17 PM.