We are Kentucky judges. The state must compensate those who are wrongfully convicted

Steve Mershon
·6 min read
1

As retired judges, we urge your support of HB 178 which would compensate and provide services for people who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes.

We retired judges believe that our system of justice is the best in the world despite its flaws. We know too well though that the criminal justice system sometimes sends innocent people to prison. This can happen because of eyewitness misidentification, bad forensic science, false confessions, official misconduct, coerced pleas, ineffective assistance of counsel or any mistake somewhere in the system.

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Prisoners in the outside area of the Oldham County Detention Center.June 15, 2023
Prisoners in the outside area of the Oldham County Detention Center.June 15, 2023

Sometimes innocent people go to prison

Any judge who is privileged to serve on the bench will have his or her share of nightmare cases. The one we will describe tragically could have occurred in any trial court. And ironically, the calamity we will describe resulted not from a judicial mistake but from “a perfect storm” of events that occurred well before the case got to the courts.

Michael VonAllmen was convicted in 1983 of abducting a woman at gunpoint and taking her to a secluded park where he beat, robbed and raped her.

The victim was able to provide a detailed description to the police. After a tip mistakenly led to VonAllmen—his picture was quickly identified by the victim in a photo pack—a jury convicted him and he was sentenced to 35 years.

After serving 11 years and passing several polygraph tests, VonAllmen was paroled. With the help of the Kentucky Innocence Project new evidence was found that a convicted felon, Ronald Tackett, was charged in 1978 with similar offenses in the same neighborhood. Ironically, Tackett literally looked like VonAllmen’s twin brother.

Based upon this and other information, the court set aside VonAllmen’s conviction. However, the court system originally erred and VonAllmen spent 11 years in prison as a result of it.

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Those wrongfully convicted in Kentucky must be compensated

When years (and sometimes decades) of an innocent person’s life are taken by the state, it seems justice demands that the person be compensated for the harm suffered. While 38 states and the federal government have laws to compensate people who have been wrongfully convicted, Kentucky does not.

Thus, the only avenue for an exonerated Kentuckian to obtain financial relief is to file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the entities that contributed to the wrongful conviction. These lawsuits usually take years to resolve and do not help the exonerated when they need it most.

We are all human and we sometimes make mistakes. Lawyers—and judges when they practiced law—must carry liability insurance to cover their mistakes. HB 178 is insurance for those who have unfortunately suffered as a result of our justice system.

This is why we urge the Kentucky legislature to pass legislation which would provide a monetary award and services (such as personal, financial and housing assistance as well as counseling) for those who have been wrongfully convicted.

And, because there are few exonerees, the bill will not be unreasonably costly to taxpayers.

Moreover, this Bill certainly fulfills, in some measure, the debt rightfully owed to those whose liberty has been wrongly taken.

HB 178 would give exonerees a chance to clear their names, be compensated and move on with their lives.

We believe that as a society, we owe them that much.

Judge Steve Mershon served Kentucky’s citizens for decades, being honored as Judge of the Year by the Louisville Bar Association in 2007.

Have thoughts? Submit your letter to the editor here.

The following Kentucky judges support House Bill 178

  • Judge Steve Mershon, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • James D. Moyer, Ret., United States Magistrate Judge, Western District of Kentucky

  • Justice Lisabeth T. Hughes, Ret., Kentucky Supreme Court

  • Justice Martin E. Johnstone, Ret., Kentucky Supreme Court

  • Judge Denise Clayton, Ret., Kentucky Court of Appeals

  • Judge William L Knopf, Ret., Kentucky Court of Appeals

  • Judge Edmund “Pete” Karem, Ret., Kentucky Court of Appeals

  • Judge Richard A. Revell, Ret., Jefferson Juvenile, Family and Circuit Court

  • Judge Karen A. Conrad, Retired, 12th Judicial Circuit, Oldham, Henry and Trimble Counties,

  • Judge John Potter, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Patricia Walker-Fitzgerald, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Roger Crittenden, Ret., Franklin Circuit Court

  • Judge Sadiqa N. Reynolds, Ret., Jefferson District Court

  • Judge Martin “Marty” McDonald, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Stephen A. Hayden, 51st Judicial Circuit, Henderson County

  • Judge Charlie Cunningham, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Henry Weber, Ret., Jefferson District Court

  • Judge William F. Stewart, Ret., 53rd Judicial Circuit, Anderson, Shelby and Spencer Counties

  • Judge David Bowles, Ret., Jefferson District Court

  • Judge Bill Mains, Ret., Rowan Circuit Court,

  • Judge Dolly Wisman Berry, Ret., Jefferson Family Court,

  • Judge Delores Pregliasco, Ret., Jefferson District Court,

  • Judge Louis Waterman, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Tara Hagerty, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Laura P. Russell, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Jim Shake, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Stephen George, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Barry Willett, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Joan L Byer, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Jerry J. Bowles, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Fred Cowan, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Kevin Garvey, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Ann Shake, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Michelle Stengel, Ret., Jefferson District Court

  • Judge Kevin Delahanty, Ret., Jefferson District Court

  • Judge Joseph O’Reilly, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Phillip R. Patton, Ret., 43rd Judicial Circuit, Barren and Metcalfe Counties

  • Judge Lewis D. Nicholls, Ret., 20th Judicial Circuit, Greenup and Lewis Counties

  • Judge Royce Buck, Ret., Graves District Court

  • Judge William Graham, Ret., Franklin Circuit Court

  • Judge Sheila Collins, Ret., Jefferson District Court

  • Judge Paul F. Isaacs, Ret., 14th Judicial Circuit, Bourbon, Scott and Woodford Counties

  • Judge Steve D. Hurt, Ret., 60th Judicial District, Cumberland and Monroe Counties

  • Judge David Jernigan, Ret., 45th Judicial Circuit, McLean and Muhlenberg Counties

  • Judge Judith Bartholomew, Ret., Jefferson District Court

  • Judge Tom McDonald, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge Peter C. Macdonald, Ret., Christian District Court

  • Judge Juda Maria Hellmann, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge T. Steven Bland, Ret., Hardin Circuit Court

  • Judge Thomas Knopf, Ret., Jefferson Circuit Court

  • Judge William R. Harris, Ret., 49th Judicial Circuit, Allen and Simpson Counties

  • Judge Eleanore M. Garber, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Paula F. Sherlock, Ret., Jefferson Family Court

  • Judge Virginia Whittinghill, Ret., Jefferson District Court

  • Judge Stephen M. Shewmaker, Ret., 50th Judicial Circuit, Boyle and Mercer Counties

  • Judge James M. Green, Ret., Jefferson District and Family Courts

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: HB 178 aims to compensate Kentuckians who are wrongfully convicted