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Associated Press
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Kansas' parole board has reversed its decision to release a man convicted of a trooper's 1978 murder
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' parole board has reversed its decision to release a man convicted of a state Highway Patrol trooper' 1978 murder after strong criticism prompted the governor to call on the board to reconsider. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Tuesday applauded the Prisoner Review Board's reversal in Jimmie K. Nelms' case, and top Republican officials said they were relieved or grateful that criticism appeared to change the board's mind. The board is part of the Kansas Department of Corrections, which announced the reversal late Thursday but did not disclose the board's reasons. Nelms, now 78, formerly from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was sentenced to serve two life sentences for the aggravated kidnapping and murder of Trooper Conroy O'Brien following a traffic stop on the Kansas Turnpike about 55 miles (89 kilometers) northeast of Wichita. In Kansas, killing a law enforcement officer now can be punished by death, with life in prison without parole, the only other possible sentence in a capital case. But in 1978, Kansas had no death penalty and even though Nelms received two life sentences, he nevertheless was eligible for parole after 15 years under the more lenient criminal sentencing laws then. The Prisoner Reivew Board and its predecessors repeatedly denied his parole requests, most recently in 2021. 'It is hard to imagine why the parole board would have ever thought parole was appropriate for a cop killer serving two life sentences,' Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, said in a statement Tuesday. Kobach and Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, also a Republican, said state lawmakers should consider overhauling the board. Its three members are veteran Department of Corrections employees appointed by the agency's top administrator, who reports to the governor. Before 2011, the governor appointed board members subject to Senate confirmation. That year, GOP Gov. Sam Brownback replaced that board with the Department of Corrections panel, seeing it as a cost-cutting move. Also, sentencing laws enacted in 1993 and afterward limited parole. 'Today, justice was reaffirmed, and we are grateful,' the Kansas State Troopers Association said in a statement. 'Tomorrow, we will begin working to make sure such a close call never happens again.' In some states, governors must sign off on an inmate's release. But under Kansas law, it had appeared unlikely that critics could override the parole board's decision. A state board's reversal of parole is uncommon but not unknown, said Wanda Bertram, a spokesperson for the Prison Policy Initiative, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit and research group that advocates for prisoners' rights. In Wisconsin in 2022, at Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' request, the state Parole Commission's chair reversed a decision to release a man who had been convicted of stabbing his wife. But Bruce Hedrick, executive director of Legal Services for Prisoners Inc., a Kansas nonprofit that assists inmates, called the reversal unfair. Bertram said longtime inmates often have done 'tremendous work' in changing themselves. 'Making parole release available to people in prison only to deny it based on someone's crime of conviction — which is the one thing they no longer have any control over — is a cruel practice that dangles false hope in front of incarcerated individuals,' she said. Nelms has served most of his sentence in maximum-security prisons but was transferred to a lower-security facility in 2023, where he works in the prison laundry. The parole board's decision to release Nelms came several weeks after a March 6 hearing but wasn't public until the trooper's association publicly criticized it May 8. Kelly's call for a reversal came the next day. A week after that, on Friday, the board had another hearing for Nelms, said David Thompson, a Department of Corrections spokesperson. Officials who said Nelms should remain in prison have called his crime cold-blooded. Authorities said that as O'Brien was writing a ticket, Nelms forced him out of his patrol car at gunpoint, took the trooper's own gun and shot him twice in the head, leaving his body in a ditch. O'Brien was 26 with a pregnant wife. Nelms was 31. 'It's still deeply concerning this error even happened and the reversal likely wouldn't have occurred if not for the massive public outcry,' Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican, said in a statement.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Push underway to revoke KHP trooper ambusher's parole
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The National Fraternal Order of Police is asking the Kansas Department of Corrections to overturn parole for the man who ambushed and executed a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper. The national president says they support Gov. Laura Kelly's request to review and reverse the decision, saying that the release of Jimmie Nelms would be a 'travesty to justice and would dishonor Trooper O'Brien's sacrifice…' Nelms and Walter Myrick killed KHP Trooper Conroy O'Brien in 1978 after a traffic stop. Myrick died in prison in 2009. KHP leadership condemns release of trooper's killer For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news by downloading our mobile app and signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track 3 Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Yahoo
Daughter of murdered Kansas Highway Patrol trooper reacts to killer's parole
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — It started as a traffic stop in 1978. The car pulled to the side of the road was the vehicle used by Jimmie Nelms and his two accomplices after a string of armed robberies. In the patrol car was Conroy O'Brien, assigned to the Kansas Turnpike. Nelms and one codefendant were found guilty of kidnapping and murder after ambushing and executing O'Brien. Nearly 50 years later, on May 6, Nelms was granted parole. Despite widespread discourse across the state that the decision is unjust, the daughter of O'Brien, Neely Goen, says she forgave Nelms long ago. More locals turning to thrift stores 'He could live another ten years. He could not make it out. But if he does, I hope the years aren't wasted. I hope the gift is understood. I hope that something greater than myself, greater than Jimmie, greater than tragedy can come from it,' Goen said in a video uploaded to Facebook Friday. In 2025, the death penalty wasn't practiced in Kansas, and the two life terms he was sentenced to were eligible for parole after 30 years. In a statement, the Kansas Highway Patrol called the decision 'disgraceful and disgusting.' There is no date set for Nelms' release. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
09-05-2025
- Associated Press
Kansas governor wants board to reconsider parole granted to a state trooper's convicted killer
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A man convicted of killing a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper in 1978 has been granted parole after having past requests rejected, inspiring criticism and prompting the governor on Friday to call for reconsidering the decision. Jimmie K. Nelms and another man, both from Tulsa, Oklahoma, were sentenced to serve two life sentences for the aggravated kidnapping and murder of Trooper Conroy O'Brien following a traffic stop on the Kansas Turnpike about 55 miles (89 kilometers) northeast of Wichita. Nelms' co-defendant, Walter Myrick, died in prison in 2009. In Kansas, killing a law enforcement officer now can be punished by death, with the only other possible sentence in a capital case being life in prison without parole. But in 1978, Kansas had no death penalty, and Nelms was eligible for parole after 30 years in 2008. He sought parole in 2011 and 2021. A date for Nelms' release hasn't been set. His release was approved by the Prisoner Review Board, comprised of three veteran state Department of Corrections employees appointed by its top administrator. Department spokesman David Thompson said the decision came several weeks after a March 6 hearing. 'The Kansas Prisoner Review Board believes that Mr. Nelms is able and willing to fulfill the obligations of a law-abiding citizen and is of the opinion that there is reasonable probability that Mr. Nelms can be released without detriment to the community or to himself,' Thompson said in a statement. A decision becomes public when it's criticized The decision didn't become public until the Kansas State Troopers Association condemned it as 'disgraceful and disgusting' in a statement Thursday. Under Kansas law, it appears unlikely that critics can prevent Nelms' release. 'Those who murder law enforcement officers should expect to receive the death penalty, not to be walking free on the streets of KS,' state Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a post on the social platform X. The Kansas Legislature's top leaders, Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins, called the parole decision 'unconscionable' Friday. They and Kobach are Republicans; the Department of Corrections is under Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat. But Kelly wants the board to consider reversing the decision 'if legally possible,' spokesperson Grace Hoge said. 'The facts of this case demonstrate a brutal and intentional killing of a law enforcement officer,' Kelly Hoge said in an email. 'There is no justification for this decision.' A traffic stop turns deadly in 1978 According to court records and news reports, O'Brien stopped Nelms' car for speeding about 2 miles south of a turnpike service area. Myrick was driving. As O'Brien wrote a ticket in his patrol car, Nelms approached the driver's side with a gun, according to authorities. Nelms forced O'Brien to get out of the car and told him to lie down in a ditch. Authorities said Nelms took O'Brien's gun, struck the trooper with it, and, when O'Brien fell to the ground, shot him twice in the head. O'Brien was 26 with a pregnant wife. Nelms was 31 and Myrick, 25. A 21-year-old man was also in the car with Nelms and Myrick, but he pleaded guilty to lesser charges and provided crucial testimony against Nelms. The men fled in Nelms' car, left the turnpike, and eventually drove north, where another patrol trooper spotted the car about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of where O'Brien died. Nelms' car and the trooper's collided in a pasture, and a gun battle ensued. Nelms denied he was the shooter, but jurors convicted him and Myrick of murder, aggravated kidnapping and other charges during a joint trial. Nelms served most of his sentence in maximum-security prisons but was transferred to a lower-security facility in 2023. Online Department of Corrections records show four disciplinary reports against him from 1996 to 2017, the last for disobeying orders. Thompson said Nelms works in the prison laundry. Kansas changes how parole decisions are made When Nelms sought parole in 2011, decisions were made by a three-member parole board appointed by the governor, subject to state Senate confirmation. That same year, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive order abolishing the parole board in favor of a panel of Department of Corrections employees. Brownback said the move would save the state $500,000 a year, and sentencing laws after 1993 limited parole. Critics worried that the department's board would release inmates just to avoid prison overcrowding, and Kelly, then a state senator, called the change 'a really bad idea.' Masterson, the current Senate president, backed the change in 2011 but said Friday that it 'has not functioned as intended' and that he would work for changes to see that the review board members 'rightly answer to the people of Kansas.' Democratic state Rep. Tom Sawyer, who reviewed Nelms' case as a parole board member from 2009 through June 2011, said the board sometimes rejected parole when corrections officials recommended. Now, he said, the process is 'all in-house.' As for Nelms, Sawyer said, 'I think it's highly unlikely the parole board would have let him go, based on my experience.'
