Many of us have read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Kidnapped…
Those are probably his two most famous books. Stevenson himself thought his best work was Catriona. It’s a story set in 18th Century Scotland about a young heir fighting to recover his patrimony from a corrupt and vicious Establishment, one that uses every means possible to thwart him.
When David Balfour, the protagonist, goes to the state prosecutor to seek the prosecution of his enemy for murder he is told; “This is a political case-ah, yes Mr. Balfour. Whether we like it or not, the case is political-and I tremble when I think what issues depend on it. To a political case, I need scarce tell a young man of your education we approach with very different thoughts from one which is criminal only.”
Nothing has changed in 250 years.
Your ability under the legal system to get redress if you have been wronged depends largely on who you are and who hurt you. You only have to consider the sick, co-dependent relationship between the Kansas City Star and local politicians to see this confirmed again and again.
I’ve written about how local prosecutors will throw the book at you if you’re from a disfavored demographic, and let you get away with murder-literally -if you are a favored constituency of the Democratic Party:
Crime and Punishment on Grand Blvd., 1-9-15
Living in the Guilted Age, 5-11-16.
Why Not Rename the Nicholas Fountain, 6-11-20.
The Necessary Murder, 7-1-20.
Useful Idiots-KC Edition, 9-10-20.
More Racial Arson from the KC Star, 5-14-23.
The latest joint venture in race baiting, i.e. making whites feel guilty and blacks feel angry, between the Star and a local politician was highlighted in a prominent story from February: “Jackson County Prosecutor started a conviction review unit. Some say it’s ‘smoke and mirrors’.” 2-5-24.
It describes the role of a Conviction Integrity Unit in reviewing criminal convictions from years earlier when there is a reason to believe they were wrongfully decided. The goal is to see to it that innocent people are freed when new evidence emerges that they did not commit the crime for which they were convicted.
The article highlights the record of the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office in acting to vacate the conviction of an inmate on Missouri’s death row. The inmate was Marcellus “Khaliffah” Williams. The other murder case focused on was that of Kenneth Strickland, a man convicted of a triple murder in 1978 here in Kansas City. Continue reading