A statewide group that aims to end the death penalty in Kansas will soon hold its annual conference at the Kansas Union, featuring a death row exoneree and nonprofit leader as the keynote speaker.
Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty invites the community to the free event, set for 1 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16 in the Big 12 Room at the Kansas Union, 1301 Jayhawk Blvd.
“We believe that the death penalty is the most visible and egregious example of the criminal justice system’s failings and that ordinary citizens have the power, wisdom, and experience to shape public policy,” according to a news release from the coalition.
The keynote speaker will be Herman Lindsey, executive director of Witness to Innocence, a Philadelphia-based organization “of, by, and for death row exonerees. Our mission is to empower exonerated death row survivors to be the most powerful and effective voice in the fight to end the death penalty and reform the justice system in the United States,” according to its website.
“In 2006, he was wrongfully convicted and spent three years on Florida’s death row before being exonerated by a unanimous verdict from the Florida Supreme Court which ruled in July 2009 that there wasn’t enough evidence to find Herman guilty of anything, much less sentence him to death, and that he did not receive a fair trial,” according to Lindsey’s online bio.
The Kansas coalition wrote that Lindsey “is living proof of how mistakes happen in our criminal justice system.”
Following the keynote, attendees “will have an opportunity to learn more about the current Kansas death penalty legal landscape and how they can advocate for death penalty repeal in the upcoming 2025 Kansas legislative session,” according to the release.
The conference is free to attend and open to the public. There’s a registration form for Zoom attendance at this link. Learn more about the coalition on its website, ksabolition.org.
Kansas’ death penalty has been in headlines lately as the ACLU has taken up a case in Wyandotte County, arguing that the punishment is unconstitutional. Attorneys argue that the death penalty creates racially biased juries and violates the defendant’s right to an impartial jury.
“Last week, we wrapped up our first round of hearings where we presented expert testimony from historians, legal experts, and statisticians on the state’s unconstitutional capital punishment system and practice of death qualification,” Emily Berkowitz, a spokesperson for the ACLU, said via email. “We have more one more day of hearings before January (date is still TBD).”
Kansas is one of 27 states that still allows defendants to be sentenced to death, and there are currently nine inmates on death row in Kansas, the Kansas Reflector reported.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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