Gov. Laura Kelly believes a decision to parole a man who murdered a Highway Patrol trooper in 1978 was not justified and should be reversed, a spokesperson said late Friday afternoon.
“While Gov Kelly believes in second chances, as evidenced by her decisions to grant clemency on a case-by-case basis, she does not agree with the Prisoner Review Board’s decision here,” Grace Hoge said in an email.
“The facts of this case demonstrate a brutal and intentional killing of a law enforcement officer,” Hoge said.
“There is no justification for this decision. The governor believes the Prisoner Review Board should seriously consider reversing its decision, if legally possible.”
News that the Prisoner Review Board granted parole to Jimmie Nelms exploded Thursday and was condemned by law enforcement and legislative leaders.
“Those who murder law enforcement officers should expect to receive the death penalty, not to be walking free on the streets of KS,” Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a post on the social platform X.
On May 24, 1978, Nelms fatally shot Trooper Conroy O’Brien during a traffic stop on the Kansas Turnpike near Matfield Green.
Nelms was convicted and sentenced to two life terms for first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping, and six to 20 years for unlawful possession of a firearm.
The Kansas Prisoner Review Board made the decision to parole Nelms several weeks after his March 6 hearing. A release date has not been determined.
The Prisoner Review board was created in 2011 when former Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive reorganization order that abolished the Kansas Parole Board.
The governor does not have the power to reverse the board’s action. The board, however, is appointed by the corrections secretary and serves at the secretary’s pleasure.
The old parole board was appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the Kansas Senate.
It was not known late Friday if the governor might be inclined to urge the corrections secretary, whom she appoints, to remove the board members.
And it also was not known whether the governor believed that the process for reviewing parole decisions should be changed in the future.
The Kansas State Troopers Association, which sharply criticized the decision to grant parole to Nelms, called for the decision to be reversed.
“This decision needs to be immediately undone,” the association posted on Facebook late Friday.
“The system that made it possible needs to be repaired by legislators at the earliest opportunity.”
