Kevin Strickland, whom Jackson County prosecutors are trying to exonerate in a 1978 triple murder, said he remains “hopeful” as testimony continued Wednesday morning in his evidentiary hearing.
Strickland, 62, made the brief comment to reporters as an officer pushed him in his wheelchair to the courtroom just before the third day of the hearing, during which prosecutors are trying to prove he is innocent in the April 25, 1978, killings.
Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr. was among those who sat through testimony Wednesday morning. He said he supports Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s efforts to free Strickland, calling the hearing a “historic event.”
Testimony continued with memory expert Nancy Franklin, an emeritus professor in psychology at Stony Brook University, who on Tuesday called the lone eyewitness’ identification of Strickland in the case “extremely unreliable.”
On Wednesday, Franklin was questioned by Assistant Attorney General Christine Krug about her experience and the material she reviewed at the request of Strickland’s attorneys. The two spoke over each other at times.
“That question doesn’t make sense out of context,” Franklin once told Krug.
Baker’s team has been facing off in court with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, which contends Strickland is guilty. Baker is doing so with the support of other officials, including Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.
“I’m embarrassed and I’m ashamed. Kevin Strickland should not be behind bars,” Lucas told KCUR’s Up to Date on Wednesday, the show tweeted, later adding: “I do not know what is lacking in the heart of our attorney general when he stands in the way of justice.”
Baker’s office rested their case Tuesday after calling about a dozen witnesses to the stand, including the mother, sister and daughter of the eyewitness who said she recanted her testimony. Franklin was the only witness called by Strickland’s attorneys.
The AG’s office started calling witnesses Wednesday.
One of them, Carla Ramshead, a paralegal with the AG’s office, testified she supervised a search of archived correspondence with former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, who was in office from 1993 to 2000. One of the eyewitness’ sisters said she believed she reached out to him in an effort to recant her identification of Strickland. Ramshead testified that the AG’s office did not find such an email.
But Ramshead also testified that the office searched three boxes of possible correspondence. On cross-examination from Kate Brubacher, an assistant Jackson County prosecutor, she said 173 other boxes had been destroyed previously.
At issue was whether the lone eyewitness, Cynthia Douglas, did in fact reach out to various officials to recant before she died in 2015. Baker’s office says she did email the Midwest Innocence Project in 2009 with the subject line, “Wrongfully charged.”
“I am seeking info on how to help someone that was wrongfully accused,” the email stated. “I was the only eyewitness and things were not clear back then, but now I know more and would like to help this person if I can.”
In a 2020 investigation, The Star reported that, for decades, two men who pleaded guilty swore Strickland was not with them and two other accomplices during the killings. A third, uncharged suspect also said there “couldn’t be a more innocent person” than Strickland. The Star also reported that Douglas’ relatives told them she wanted to see Strickland freed.
Testimony is expected to continue Wednesday afternoon.
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