KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A judge in Jackson County on Friday set a November court date for an evidentiary hearing that will determine whether Kevin Strickland will be set free.
Senior Judge James Welsh also said that the Kansas City police crime lab will be allowed to analyze additional fingerprint evidence.
The ruling came during a hearing Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court concerning procedural issues in Strickland’s case, who is seeking to be exonerated in a triple murder committed more than 40 years ago.
Welsh gave Jackson County prosecutors, the Missouri Attorney General and Strickland’s attorneys 30 days to exchange information for the hearing, scheduled for Nov. 8.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced in May that new evidence indicated that Strickland, who was 18 when he was arrested, did not commit the murders.
Strickland, who is now 62, is “factually innocent” in the April 25, 1978, shooting at 6934 S. Benton Avenue in Kansas City, Baker’s office concluded.
The gunfire took the lives of John Walker, 20, Sherrie Black, 22, and Larry Ingram, 21.
Arguments in the case had been expected to begin this week after several delays. But last week, the Missouri Supreme Court disqualified all Jackson County judges and instead appointed Welsh, a retired judge who served on the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals, to preside over the case.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office, which contends Strickland is guilty, claimed 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 should be exonerated.
The Missouri Supreme Court found it necessary to prohibit Jackson County judges from presiding over the case to “avoid even the appearance of partiality or impropriety.”
