STORY: "'Let them out': Rally calls for freedom of Kevin Strickland, others deemed innocent," by Reporter Luke Nozicka, published by The Kansas City Star on August 30, 2021.
SUB-HEADING: "Cori Bush speaks at rally for Missouri men who prosecutors say are innocent," (yet who remain behind bars,)
GIST: "When Larry Darnell Smith Jr. saw Kevin Strickland speak on national news, he related to his struggle.
In February, Smith was exonerated of murder after serving 26 years, 10 months and seven days in a Michigan prison for a Detroit murder he and his attorneys maintain he did not commit. He called that time “pure hell on Earth.”
So Smith and other members of a group that started calling itself the National Organization of Exonerees organized a rally Monday in front of the Missouri Supreme Court building for Strickland — who Jackson County prosecutors say is innocent in a 1978 triple homicide in Kansas City — and Lamar Johnson, who St. Louis’ circuit attorney has determined was wrongly convicted in a 1994 murder.
“They should be released today,” said Smith, donning a T-shirt displaying the amount of time he served on the back.
The rally, which brought out more than 50 people, including U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, corresponded with the first official day that prosecutors in Missouri, under a new law, can seek to free prisoners they have deemed innocent.
That meant that Jackson County prosecutors filed a 25-page motion, which became public Monday, that asks a Jackson County judge to exonerate Strickland, who they say has spent more than two-thirds of his life in prison for killings he did not commit.
At the rally, at least six exonerees called for the release of Strickland, Johnson and Christopher Dunn, who has been incarcerated since 1990 for a St. Louis murder — even though a judge agreed new evidence would make it unlikely a jury would convict him.
Some people gathered outside the building, which also houses the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, wore shirts that read, “Innocent Lives Matter.” Speaking into a microphone, Missouri NAACP President Rod Chapel said, “let them,” as the crowd responded, “out.”
The attorney general’s office, which contends Strickland is guilty and has fought his release, did not comment on the rally.
Speaking to the crowd, state Rep. Richard Brown said if Strickland or Johnson are freed, they will not be compensated by Missouri. He noted an online fundraiser set up for Johnson raised about $3,000, while one created for Strickland has raised $35,800.
“Missouri has one of the strictest compensation laws in our nation,” Brown said, noting the state only allows payments to innocent people exonerated through DNA evidence.
Brown, a Kansas City Democrat, called on his fellow lawmakers to pass legislation he plans to introduce to ensure wrongly convicted people, whether through DNA or other means, are compensated. It would include access to job training and health services.
“Is this too much to ask?” Brown said. “Someone who was innocent of a crime and lost years off their life.”
A person in the crowd responded: “No, it’s not.”
“We must do better, Missouri,” Brown later added.
Bush, a St. Louis Democrat, said Strickland and Johnson are “victims of our failed criminal legal system.”
Both missed out on the chance to watch their children grow up, Bush said. She noted that Strickland’s daughter, who was 7 weeks old when her father was arrested, is now in her 40s — about Bush’s age.
“I think about all that I’ve gone through and I think about all that my daddy did with me over these last 40-plus years,” Bush told the crowd. “He lost that with his baby; she lost that with her daddy. This country did that.”
Josh Kezer, who served 15 years in prison for a southeast Missouri murder he did not commit, said the state has a long history of “not truly appreciating innocence.” He wondered why there was still negotiation over the state’s two highest-profile innocence claims.
“Lamar Johnson’s an innocent man; Kevin Strickland’s an innocent man,” Kezer said. “That’s it.""
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article253841428.html
