The U.S. Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by Kansas law enforcement officers seeking qualified immunity for actions leading to wrongful conviction of a Jefferson County man who spent 16 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
The State Finance Council approved settlements Tuesday of a $50,000 wrongful conviction case and two other legal conflicts, but the council did not disclose information about those claims nor amounts of tax dollars spent to settle them.
Mackenzie Clark / Lawrence Times file photo
Albert Wilson, whose Lawrence rape case made headlines across the country, has filed a wrongful conviction lawsuit against the state of Kansas.
Members of a task force developing protocol for newly discovered DNA evidence in closed cases is backing a recommendation laying out a process to ensure defense counsel is made aware when a match is found in DNA registries.
Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector
Members of the Legislature’s task force developing protocol for use of newly discovered DNA evidence in criminal cases endorsed better training to keep valuable information from slipping through cracks in the justice system.
“Jury nullification is a basic refusal to convict based on the jurors’ beliefs and principles,” Kirsten Kuhn writes in this column.
Screen capture/Kansas Reflector
Melody Bitzer shared deeply personal appeals for judicial reform on behalf of her father, because the former prison inmate can no longer speak for himself.
