Innocent convict receives more than one million dollars in donations

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Kevin Strickland, 62, upon his release

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Rich Sugg / AP

It was a fatal mistake: The fact that Kevin Strickland was innocent in prison for almost 43 years has outraged many people in the US in recent days - especially since he received no compensation from the US state of Missouri despite the miscarriage of justice.

An online fundraiser has now raised more than $ 1 million as seed money for Strickland, 62.

One of Strickland's lawyers had started the action.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell told the New York Times that she routinely collects for dismissed clients.

The high amount for Strickland was a surprise.

"That is hopeful for all of us," Bushnell said.

"Until the system has changed where it failed, the community intervenes to fix it."

In 1979 Kevin Strickland was sentenced to life imprisonment for multiple murders in Kansas City.

An all-white jury found the African American guilty.

Did the police harass an eyewitness?

In November, a judge in the US state of Missouri had ordered the immediate release of the 62-year-old.

Strickland was convicted solely on the basis of the testimony of an eyewitness who later retracted her testimony, according to the reasoning.

The guilty verdict is therefore not tenable.

Strickland was found guilty of the murders of Larry Ingram, 21, John Walker, 20, and Sherrie Black, 22.

The verdict was based in large part on the testimony of eyewitness Cynthia Douglas, the sole survivor of the April 25, 1978 crime.

The witness, who died in 2015, initially identified Strickland as one of four men who shot.

However, she later expressed doubts and said she had been pressured by the police to make her statement.

cpa / AP