During testimony on Monday, November 8, in an evidentiary hearing that could lead to his release, a Missouri man, Kevin Strickland, who has been imprisoned for more than 40 years for a triple murder adamantly and repeatedly denied having any involvement in the crime, AP reported. Strickland was wrongfully convicted, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker and other legal and political leaders. She claimed that evidence used to convict him had since been retracted or disproven. According to AP, Peters Baker said on Monday, this is a triple murder involving three young people. Kevin Strickland's conviction has made the tragedy much, much worse.

AP reported, Kevin Strickland, who claims he has been working toward his freedom since he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1979, saying, "I had absolutely nothing to do with these murders. By no means was I anywhere close to that crime scene."

The evidentiary hearing in Strickland's case follows months of delays caused by legal procedures and cancelled hearings, most of which were prompted by motions filed by the state attorney general's office. The media agency reported, Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican senatorial candidate, has stated that he believes Strickland is responsible for the killings. During opening statements, attorneys for Strickland and the Attorney General's office said that statements from Cynthia Douglas, the only survivor of the shootings, identifying Strickland as the shooter, would be crucial in determining Strickland's fate. Douglas, according to Strickland's supporters, recanted her identification before she died.

Strickland claims he was at home at the time of the murders

On Monday, during cross-examination by assistant prosecutor Christine Krug, Strickland admitted that it was the first time in 43 years that he had ever admitted to being drunk at the time. Strickland, 62, was found guilty in the fatal shootings of Larry Ingram, 21, John Walker, 20, and Sherrie Black, 22, on April 25, 1978, in Kansas City, US. Strickland's first trial ended in a hung jury after the only Black juror, a woman, refused to vote for acquittal. In 1979, jury found him guilty of one count of capital murder and two counts of second-degree murder after his second trial. Strickland has always claimed that he was at home watching TV at the time of the murders, which occurred when he was 18 years old.

Strickland was found guilty, according to Andrew Clarke, an assistant prosecutor in the Attorney General's office. He claimed that recordings of Douglas's phone calls with her husband while he was incarcerated would show she was not interested in assisting Strickland in proving his innocence. One of Strickland's fingerprints was also discovered on a car used the night of the killings, according to Clarke. Vincent Bell, the owner, later pleaded guilty to the murders. Strickland testified that he frequently drove the car for Bell, who didn't have a driver's licence, and that he was surprised that more of his fingerprints were not discovered on the vehicle. Strickland also admitted that two to three weeks before the killings, he gave Bell some shotgun shells after Bell stated that he wanted to test a shotgun he had been given. Strickland, on the other hand, claimed he had no idea they were going to be used in a triple murder.

(With inputs from AP)

Image: AP