KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As calls for criminal justice reforms reach a fever pitch, Ricky Kidd knows first-hand what happens when that system fails.
"I did 23 years and three months in a maximum level five prison for a crime that I did not commit," Kidd said.
Almost a year ago, a judge exonerated Kidd, who had been convicted in a 1996 double murder.
Despite having an airtight alibi at the time, it took a team from UMKC and the Midwest Innocence project to free Kidd.
Since his release, he's become an advocate for reform.
"I believe in them [law enforcement]," Kidd told 41 Action News on Sunday. "I believe that they put their uniform on every day, not to go out and see if they can get black blood or to kill an individual. I think they leave their home to serve and protect. I think most of them do, and so I still have a strong belief in our justice system, even though there is some issues that need to be fixed or some issues that need to be worked on."
He said he believes in the coming days and weeks that leaders need to focus on qualified immunity, which prevents officers from getting sued for actions taken while on the job, and the relationship between police and the prosecutor’s office.
"So when the officers go rogue or don't do the job, we're asking that same district attorney's office to prosecute those individuals," Kidd said. "I think if we are being realistic, that's a tall order."
He'd also like to see more body cameras, which on the sixth day of protests in Kansas City, KCPD announced would be funded through private donors after failing to secure the money for several years.
"I think the police department, the chief of police, if they are transparent about what happens, I think that goes a long way in trying to rebuild trust or create trust that may have never been there in the first place," Kidd said.
Some advice on a complicated task, fixing a criminal justice system that many people say is broken.
