Herman Lindsey, a death row exoneree, speaks at the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty meeting Nov. 16, 2024, at the University of Kansas. After Lindsey was exonerated in 2009, he has traveled the country as an advocate to end the death penalty. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)
LAWRENCE — Herman Lindsey knows firsthand how “bad actors” can lead to wrongful convictions in capital murder cases.
After two witnesses who were threatened and promised compensation if they lied testified against him, Lindsey was convicted and sentenced to death. Now exonerated, Lindsey spoke Saturday at the University of Kansas as part of the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty’s annual meeting.
“So, thanks to a lot of good folk like yourself getting involved in this issue, innocent people are actually starting to come out of that bondage,” Lindsey said.
Kansas has not executed a prisoner since 1965, but there are nine inmates currently on death row. The U.S. Supreme Court halted capital punishment in 1972, then cleared the way for new death penalty laws in 1976. Kansas reinstated the death penalty in 1994.