Entries tagged with “Kevin Strickland”
Research
Jul 26, 2024
Analysis: Why Executive Officials Grant Clemency
In a new analysis, the Death Penalty Information Center has found that executive officials most often cite disproportionate sentencing, possible innocence, and mitigation factors such as intellectual disability or mental illness as reasons to grant clemency in capital cases. Ineffective defense lawyering and official misconduct are also common factors in clemency grants. While present in fewer cases, support for clemency from the victim’s family or a decisionmaker in the original trial, such as…
Issues
Aug 31, 2022
Missouri Governor Silent on Marcellus Williams’ Case 5 Years After Execution Halted for Board of Inquiry Innocence Review
Five years after former Gov. Eric Greitens issued an execution-day reprieve for a Board of Inquiry to address questions of innocence, Marcellus Williams remains on Missouri’s death row. Though the board presented its recommendations more than a year ago, current Gov. Mike Parson has taken no action on the case. Williams was set to be executed on August 22, 2017. Mounting evidence of his innocence produced a groundswell in opposition to his execution and calls for an independent investigation…
Issues
Nov 24, 2021
Kevin Strickland Exonerated 42 Years After Wrongful Capital Murder Conviction in Missouri
More than 42 years after his wrongful capital murder conviction in June 1979, a Missouri judge has set Kevin Strickland (pictured) free. On November 23, 2021, Judge James Welsh granted a motion filed by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker under a newly enacted Missouri law allowing local prosecutors to petition for the release of prisoners they believe to be innocent. No physical evidence linked Strickland to the 1978 Kansas City triple murders for which he was convicted; two other men…