Parson unsure who should pay the wrongly convicted in Missouri, like Kevin Strickland
Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday he is not sure who should bear the responsibility for compensating wrongly convicted people freed from Missouri’s prisons.
Asked about the issue on KCUR’s Up to Date, Parson said he would have to take a hard look at a compensation proposal and questioned if a city, county or Missouri’s “entire state tax base” should pay.
“Who is responsible for that, if there is a responsibility party?” said Parson, a Republican, later adding: “I just think to say, ‘OK, all the taxpayers in the state of Missouri are responsible for that.’ You know, I don’t know. If he was wrongfully convicted in a county or in a city, what responsibilities do they have to that? So I think there’s some moving pieces to that.”
More than 35 states have compensation laws, including Missouri. But the state’s law is so narrow, most people freed after wrongful conviction, like Ricky Kidd and Joe Amrine of Kansas City, never receive a dime.
Currently, only prisoners freed through a specific DNA testing statute can receive money, though few prove their innocence that way. If they do, they are entitled to payments of $36,500 a year.
Parson’s comments come as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seek to broaden compensation to those exonerated of crimes they did not commit. Legislators across the state moved to act after the November release of Kevin Strickland, a Kansas City man who spent 42 years in prison for a triple murder that he did not commit. He did not qualify for compensation under state law.
Up to Date’s host, Steve Kraske, told Parson he had Strickland, 62, on the show several weeks ago. He asked Parson — who was urged last summer to pardon Strickland, but did not — what he made of the fact that Strickland was released with nothing.
Parson said, whether good or bad, that is “the way the system is right now.” He said the current structure would remain the way it is until there is “some sort of legislative change.”
At least four bills have been introduced that would, to varying degrees, expand state compensation to the innocent. The broadest yet is sponsored by Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, a St. Louis Democrat whose legislation would nearly double the amount paid to exonerees to $65,000 for each year they wrongly spent in Missouri’s prisons. It would match the amount paid in Kansas.
Two other bills, which are sponsored by Republican lawmakers and would allow for payments to prisoners exonerated without DNA evidence, are scheduled to be voted out of the House Emerging Issues Committee on Tuesday afternoon.
Missouri currently pays less in compensation than other states. The federal standard is $50,000 for each year of imprisonment. The majority of states with a compensation law, including Alabama, provide that or more. Texas’ is $80,000 per year.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 11:36 AM.
