Lamonte McIntyre, who was imprisoned for 23 years for a double murder he did not commit, was awarded $1.5 million on Monday, two years after he was released from prison.
“Today, Lamonte McIntyre has been declared, finally and conclusively, a completely innocent man,” his attorney, Cheryl Pilate said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.
“That long-overdue recognition, along with the statutory payment and other benefits, will help lighten a bit the heavy load he has carried. Lamonte is grateful for the benefits of the compensation statute, but he knows his fight for justice is far from over.”
In addition to the $65,000 for each of the 23 years McIntyre wrongly spent in prison, he had his record expunged and was awarded a certificate of innocence from Shawnee County District Judge Teresa L. Watson, according to Fox News.
He was also granted counseling, state health benefits in 2020 and 2021, a tuition and fee waiver for a college degree, and additional $25,000 from the state attorney, all of which still need to be reviewed by the State Finance Council before execution, KSHB reported.
“This is what I’ve been living on, the high of knowing that I’ve actually been found innocent and acknowledges [sic] my innocence through the state, so I’m happy about that,” Mclntyre told KMBC.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Monday in a news release: “We are committed to faithfully administering the state’s mistaken-conviction law as the legislature wrote it. In this case, our office worked diligently to obtain and review all available evidence, including evidence identified but not provided in the earlier judicial proceedings.”
Mclntyre, 43, was arrested in 1994 when he was 17 years old for murdering Doniel Quinn, 21, and Donald Ewing, 34. Both men were shot while sitting in a parked car in Kansas City.
Though no physical evidence was found linking Mclntyre to the crime, two eyewitnesses identified him as the shooter and the judge sentenced him to two life sentences.
According to the National Registry of Exonerations, the police never examined ejected gunshot shells that were recovered from the scene for fingerprints and did not examine Mclntyre’s clothing that would have been hit by exploding glass, despite witness statements stating that the gunman was standing next to the car.
After spending 23 years in prison, Mclntyre was released in 2017 when a local prosecutor asked the court to vacate his convictions and drop all charges.
Documents made public during an eight-year effort to release Mclntyre accuse the detective on the case of using his power to prey on African American women, including Mclntyre’s mother.
It also alleges the prosecutor, Terra Morehead, of intimidating witnesses who said Mclntyre was not the murderer.
Furthermore, the documents claim that Morehead had a romantic relationship with the presiding judge before the trial.
Mclntyre’s attorney said on Monday that the family will continue with their federal lawsuit against the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City and individual officers who are responsible for their lost 23 years.
“The individuals involved twisted the justice system to serve their own ends, not the needs of the community or the goal of truth-finding,” Cheryl Pilate said.
“No justice was served by their actions, and a full accounting of their wrongful conduct must occur.”
McIntyre told KMBC that he and his fellow exoneree Darryl Burton have since started the Miracle of Innocence Project, helping former inmates after a wrongful conviction.
“I don’t view myself as a celebrity or nothing like that, right? I’m just I’m a guy who sees a fire and I want to put it out. So if it’s too big for me to put out by myself, I kind of expect the help of my community to help me put this fire out,” McIntyre said.
