Missouri Supreme Court declines Strickland case

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the innocence claim of Kevin Strickland, who has spent forty years in prison. 

Prosecutors say he has spent the time in prison for a triple murder he did not commit.    

The Kansas City Star reports the state’s highest court did not provide a reason for denying Strickland’s petition, which was supported by Jackson County prosecutors who have determined he was wrongly convicted in the 1978 killings in Kansas City.   

Strickland’s petition was filed May 10 — the same day Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced that her office, federal prosecutors, Kansas City’s mayor, and others were calling for Strickland’s exoneration and release.  

Strickland’s attorneys argued he is not only innocent but his trials were marred by constitutional violations, including allegations that prosecutors deliberately excluded Black jurors from serving at Strickland’s second trial.