Jackson county Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker notched her second huge win in a week today when a retired appeals court judge granted a motion to exonerate Kevin Strickland in a 1978 triple murder and ordered his immediate release.
Strickland, 62, was sentenced to prison in June 1979 for a murder he did not commit. He has spent more than 42 years behind bars.
Every bit as significant as Strickland’s exoneration was Baker’s successful prosecution of Kansas City Police Detective Eric DeValkenaere, whom a Jackson County Circuit Court judge last week found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the Dec. 3, 2019, killing of Cameron Lamb as he was backing into the garage at his residence at 4154 College Ave.
Baker is fearless in her pursuit of criminals of all stripes, including cops. In 2019, she went up against the other most powerful political organization in town, Local 42 of the International Association of Fire, on a union contract matter. (Jackson County’s assistant prosecutors are one of a dozen bargaining units that Local 42 represents.)
It would be so easy for Baker to take a go-along/get-along stance with the police department, which she has to work with on all criminal cases. It’s obvious, though, that Baker follows her gut and her conscience. You would think that would be good for her politically — and it is in Democratic Jackson County — but it’s probably not going to help her if she ever goes for a statewide office, such as attorney general.
That’s because the Democratic Party has essentially become irrelevant at the statewide level, with Donald Trump’s perverted brand of Republicanism having won the hearts and minds of outstate Missourians, who hold a distinct advantage, numerically, over the residents of Kansas City and St. Louis.
It is maddening that a huckster and Trump devotee like Eric Schmitt holds the office of attorney general and that he probably will be a serious contender for the Republican nomination to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt.
Think comparatively about Baker and Schmitt. Where Baker is trying to hold all criminals accountable to the law, Schmitt is sniffing for headlines and looking to burnish his Trump-populist credentials.
Laughingly, but sadly, he fought Baker on Strickland’s exoneration. If Schmitt had gotten his way, Strickland would have spent the rest of his life in prison.
Then there is his record of cases filed. In April, The Kansas City Star ran an editorial that catalogued Schmitt’s most jaw-dropping forays. The editorial began like this…
“Almost a year ago, Schmitt sued China. He has sued Facebook and Google, too. Last week, he filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s immigration policies. He’s suing over state tax cuts. Schmitt has sued over the XL Pipeline. He’s in court over federal oil and gas leases. He wants federal environmental regulations reduced by court order. And, of course, he was part of the lawsuit against Pennsylvania, trying to erase the presidential votes of about 7 million people who live there…Have any of these lawsuits succeeded? Nah.”
At least one of Schmitt’s opponents for the Republican senatorial nomination is not buffaloed by the attorney general’s antics. When he announced his own candidacy last week, Missouri Senate President Pro Tem David Schatz, a Franklin County Republican, said “too many politicians are fakes and frauds.”
I couldn’t help but think Schatz was referring to Schmitt, and I hope Schatz will get bolder in the coming months and call out Schmitt by name as nothing more than a publicity hound.
…What a shame: Schmitt running for U.S. Senate and Jean Peters Baker effectively limited to running in urban areas. Courage and conviction are no longer the traits that resonate with a majority of Missouri voters; it’s cronyism that counts.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Given the choice between a competent DA and my choice of AG, I’ll take the DA every time. You ought to be happier than a pig in poop that she’s stuck in KC..
Over here in KCK Mark Dupree is an absolute buffoon and a danger to the community. Recently he lost an armed robbery case where they even had video of the guy using the gun to hold the joint up. He’s bungled murder cases and it’s so common for him to plead ag robbery and felon with a gun down to level 9 felonies and then release them on probation that the judges are twiddling their thumbs with little to nothing to do. In the meantime, the streets are being flooded with violent criminals while witnesses disappear because they know the thugs will be back out to seek revenge. The only upside is that we get far fewer calls for jury duty now..
According to Alonzo Washington a couple of Dupree’s relatives have even been implicated in the murder of a teenage girl and yet nothing is done because, well, they’re Dupree’s relatives. Worse yet, Tyrone Garner is one of his supporters, and just appointed Dupree’s wife to head up his transition team. If only he would run for AG.
All of those Schmitt lawsuits cited are ridiculous and reveal Schmitt’s buffoonery. But what really gets me is the immorality, the evil, the corruption, the villainous absence of caring about another human being, his vicious disregard for fairness, in his attempts to keep Strickland in prison.
Well expressed, Vern. As usual, you have your thumb on the moral pulse.
Jimmy, you’re not supposed to take pulse with your thumb — fingers only! :-)
Happy Thanksgiving Day!
Who was prosecutor when Strickland was convicted?
I new Eric Schmidt and thought he was a conservative good Goverment type who wanted to get things done. That was his reputation when he served in the legislature. My how he has changed.