Lamonte McIntyre still waiting for his $1.5M

Lamonte McIntyre talks with KMBC Channel 9
Photo credit KMBC Channel 9 News

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says his office has not found evidence that the state owes anything to Lamonte McIntyre, the man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and spent more than two decades in prison.

Former Gov. Jeff Colyer signed a measure into law that entitles wrongfully-convicted people $65,000 for each year they are incarcerated. For McIntyre, that would total more than $1.5 million, plus health care and job training tuition.

"I'm frustrated because I feel like this is not something that I have to continue to fight for," McIntyre said. "I'm going to continue to fight for it if I have to."

Schmidt's statement says that the new Kansas law provides for a court, not the attorney general, to determine whether a claimant meets the legal requirements to recieve benefits. 

McIntyre's attorney, Cheryl Pilate, released a statement: 

"There is nothing in the statute that prevents the Attorney General from independently examining the facts and reaching agreement with the Claimant, in this case, Lamonte McIntyre. There is also nothing in the statute that prevents the Attorney General from conducting its own investigation, including an investigation of the police misconduct that led to the wrongful conviction in Lamonte McIntyre’s case."

The attorney general's filing mentions the need for more fact finding and says that court records are insufficient.

"You can't put a price tag on a person's life anyway," McIntyre said. "But you can attempt to make it right, and that's a step in the right direction."