‘Welcome home brother’: Kevin Strickland’s family thrilled judge orders his release

L.R. Strickland had few words to capture his joy upon hearing his brother, 62-year-old Kevin Strickland, would be released Tuesday afternoon after spending more than 42 years in prison.

“I’m just galactically overwhelmed,” he said.

L.R. Strickland, 65, received word of his brother’s pending release through the Midwest Innocence Project, one of the organizations that fought to prove Kevin Strickland suffered Missouri’s longest confirmed wrongful conviction.

L.R.’s wife, Stephanie, said the judge’s decision to release Strickland is proof the justice system can work. L.R said when he sees him later Tuesday, he simply wants to tell him: “Welcome home, brother.”

Relatives last saw him outside prison walls when he was 18.

“I’m so happy for my brother. This is like the blessing of life itself,” L.R. said.

Judge James Welsh, a retired appeals court judge, granted a motion filed by Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker — the first of its kind under a new Missouri law — that sought to exonerate Strickland in a 1978 triple murder in Kansas City. It meant that Strickland suffered the seventh longest wrongful conviction acknowledged in U.S history.

Strickland’s cousin, Carol Jones, heard Kevin was freed while working at Advent Healthcare Center. Everyone started shouting “Hallelujah,” and “Praise God,” in celebration, she said.

“Last time I visited Kevin I said: ‘Kevin, deep in my heart, I know you’re not going to be here all your life. Nuh uh, you’re not going to do it,” Jones said. That was two years ago.

She said all Strickland wants to do today is have a big meal with family and relax. They have plans to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner together as a family, but will be missing Strickland’s mother, who died on Aug. 21.

“I can’t wait to give him a big hug and hold him and feel him right here in our presence,” Jones said. She encourages anyone else supporting a loved one who believes they are wrongfully convicted to “fight as long as you’re able to.”

L.R. has maintained he was at home with Strickland when the shooting unfolded nearly three miles away.

Ahead of the hearing that lead to his brother’s exoneration, L.R. said earlier this month that the evidence showed his brother was “clearly innocent.” Relatives had hoped Strickland would be home for Thanksgiving. Now, he will be.

“We’ve waited so long for this,” he said at the time.

Kevin Strickland’s innocence was the focus of a September 2020 investigation by The Star, which interviewed more than two dozen people, including two men who admitted guilt and swore Strickland was not with them and two other accomplices during the killings. The Star also reported that the lone eyewitness to the murders, whose testimony was paramount in the case against him, told relatives she wanted to recant her identification of him and believed she helped send the wrong teenager to prison.

Jackson County prosecutors began reviewing Strickland’s conviction in November 2020 after speaking with his lawyers and reviewing The Star’s investigation.

Following a months-long review of the case, Baker’s office in May announced that Strickland is “factually innocent” in the April 25, 1978, triple murder at 6934 S. Benton Ave. in Kansas City and should be freed immediately.

Baker filed her motion seeking to free him when a new law, which allows local prosecutors to do so, went into effect in late August.

This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 1:36 PM.

Luke Nozicka

The Kansas City Star

816-234-4104

Luke Nozicka was a member of The Kansas City Star’s investigative team until 2023. He covered criminal justice issues in Missouri and Kansas.

Matti Gellman

The Kansas City Star

I’m a breaking news reporter, who helps cover issues of inequity relating to race, gender and class around the metro area.