The case of the African American Kevin Strickland, who, despite the revoked testimony of the sole eyewitness, spent nearly 43 years innocent in prison, sparked debates in the United States not only because of the abundance of procedural errors. The fact that the state of Missouri did not pay the sixty-two-year-old any compensation after his release last Tuesday also outraged thousands. To help Strickland take its first steps towards freedom, the American Tricia Rojo Bushnell, a volunteer with the Midwest Innocence Project, appealed for donations online. By Friday, the campaign had raised more than a million dollars.
Bushnell and her colleagues became aware of the case in 2009.
At that time, the sole eyewitness to the murder of three of her friends in 1979 contacted the Midwest Innocence Project, an organization that clarified errors of law.
She reported that she had mistaken Strickland for one of his acquaintances.
At the urging of the Jackson District Attorney's Office, the verdict was finally overturned Tuesday.
Since compensation in Missouri is only paid to convicts whose innocence is proven by genetic analysis, Strickland missed out.