‘Really touching’: After wrongful conviction, Kansas City honors Kevin Strickland
Mayor Quinton Lucas on Thursday recognized Kevin Strickland, who endured Missouri’s longest known wrongful conviction, by proclaiming June 7 as Kevin Strickland Day in Kansas City.
The 7th is Strickland’s birthday. This year was his first birthday outside prison walls in 43 years.
Speaking at City Hall, Strickland said it was an honor, but he does not want people to forget about others dealing with wrongful convictions — especially those still waiting for help.
“Let’s do something to move forward to make the state accept the responsibility other than the mayor extending his condolences,” Strickland said. “I really appreciate you doing this. This is really touching.”
Lucas has recognized Strickland before, most notably when he invited him to light the Mayor’s Christmas Tree at Crown Center to a cheering crowd in December.
Lucas said Thursday that he learned then a little more about who Strickland is. That Strickland would write letters to the networks showing soap operas when he thought the plot was getting rough. He learned about Strickland’s “exceptional memory for locations” in Kansas City, and about his love for his family.
Strickland’s mother died while he was still incarcerated last year. Strickland’s freedom was delayed by motions filed by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office contending he was guilty. Lucas said that was a “mark of shame” for the office.
“We’re proud and thankful that you have a chance to be out and about in our community, showing people the embodiment of courage, of respect, of forgiveness,” Lucas said. “And more than anything, of somebody who knows this community as somebody who is working each day as a free man to try to make our community better and stronger and to stand up for justice for all, including those who are dealing with situations like this.”
Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, District 3, praised Strickland for his optimism.
“One of the things that I want to thank you for today is your hope and your inspiration and your positive outlook because you have a lot to be bitter for,” Robinson said. “But you are an example to all of us that we should always move forward to tomorrow.”
These days, Strickland said he’s working on his health, doing everything from pilates to weightlifting. He’d hoped to be back to jogging by now.
He said he would want others dealing with a wrongful conviction to “stay to what you know is right.”
Later, Lucas said that without fairness and fair representation in the criminal justice system, people can’t place confidence in the courts or with the police.
While mayors may not have a lot of power, he said, they do have a voice.
“And if my voice, if City Council’s voice can make clear to folks that we stand for justice, that we’ll be allies, and this is a search for justice, then I think that will go a long way in this day — eventually, someday,” Lucas said.
Strickland was wrongly convicted in an April 25, 1978, triple homicide at 6934 S. Benton Ave. He spent more than four decades in prison, even though two of the admitted gunmen swore for decades that he was innocent.
He suffered the eighth longest confirmed wrongful conviction to date in U.S. history, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
Strickland’s innocence claim was detailed in a 2020 Star investigation. Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker reviewed his case. Her office, with the help of the Midwest Innocence Project and law firms, then sought Strickland’s freedom during a months-long fight in 2021 against the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. He was ultimately freed in November.
This story was originally published June 9, 2022 at 6:09 PM.
