Innocent Black Man Exonerated After 42 Years Behind Bars

A judge in Missouri exonerated a 62-year-old Black man who spent more than 40 years in prison for a crime he had always insisted he did not commit.

Judge James Welsh ordered the immediate release of Kevin Strickland after prosecutors said Strickland had not been involved in a 1978 triple murder telling the court he must “not remain in custody a day longer,” The Kansas City Star reported.

The ruling put an end to one of the longest wrongful convictions in the history of the United States Criminal Justice system.

Strickland will not receive any compensation for the more than four decades he spent wrongfully imprisoned, but thanks to a GoFundMe set up by the Midwest Innocence Project, he will be able to use the more than $61,000 in donations.

The newly freed man told a reporter with the Washington Post that he is looking forward to seeing the ocean in person and visiting his mother’s grave.