Missouri Supreme Court disqualifies local judges from hearing Kevin Strickland case
The Missouri Supreme Court has granted a request from the state Attorney General’s Office to disqualify all judges in Jackson County from hearing local prosecutors argue that Kevin Strickland is innocent.
The state’s highest court prohibited Judge Kevin Harrell in Jackson County from hearing the case and instead appointed Senior Judge James Welsh, who has served on the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals, to preside over it.
Under Eric Schmitt, the attorney general’s office had appealed Harrell’s decision to not recuse himself and other Jackson County judges. The office contended there was an appearance of bias in the 16th Circuit Court because its presiding judge, Dale Youngs, has said he “concurs on behalf” of the court that Strickland, 62, should be exonerated.
The court said while Harrell’s actions did not show he displayed disqualifying bias, it found it necessary to prohibit him and other circuit court judges from presiding over the case to “avoid even the appearance of partiality or impropriety.”
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on the decision.
Strickland’s attorneys said they were disappointed, but remained confident that any judge who hears the evidence will find Strickland is an innocent man and “end this decades-long injustice.”
“We hope this is the last delay the Attorney General is permitted to exercise,” Strickland’s lawyers said in a statement.
Reacting to the news on Twitter, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas — who has called for Strickland’s release — wrote: “This poor man.”
It’s unclear how exactly the ruling will affect Jackson County prosecutors’ efforts to exonerate and free Strickland.
They had planned to argue during a Tuesday evidentiary hearing that Strickland has wrongly spent more than 40 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit, which could have led to his freedom. The decision Thursday almost certainly means it will be rescheduled, attorneys involved in the case said.
The attorney general’s office, which contends Strickland is guilty, had argued that by publicizing Youngs’ comment, Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s office created a “public expectation that Strickland will be released because he is innocent.”
Harrell, however, said he was not aware of Youngs’ statement until it became an issue in his courtroom. He called himself impartial.
Strickland’s attorneys had argued that Harrell did not abuse his discretion by not recusing himself from the case. They said Youngs’ statement was made while pursuing a possible clemency application for Strickland and noted the Department of Corrections advises that a strong application includes comments “from members of the local criminal justice community.”
“An unfortunate consequence of all the litigation in this proceeding is that the one person whose rights should be at the center of attention, Kevin Strickland, has taken a back seat as the attorney general has filed motion after motion and sought delay after delay,” his attorneys wrote in a previous court filing.
More than 140 days ago, Strickland received rare public support from Baker, who said her office had concluded Strickland, who was 18 when he was arrested, is “factually innocent” in the April 25, 1978, shooting at 6934 S. Benton Avenue in Kansas City.
The gunfire took the lives of John Walker, 20, Sherrie Black, 22, and Larry Ingram, 21.
This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 5:38 PM.
