Kansas man Lamonte McIntyre was exonerated after spending over two decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit is suing Wyandotte County for $93 million.
McIntyre was 17-years-old when he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders of Donald Ewing and Doniel Quinn, which he did not commit. He served 8,583 days (23 years) behind bars before being released and exonerated in 2017.
He is now rightfully suing those who allowed this miscarriage of justice to happen.
“The state of Kansas can’t give me back the 23 years it took from me,” he said in his testimony. “But it can pass this compensation law so I can start my path to a successful future.”
According to NPR, in the lawsuit filed in 2018, Lamonte, along with his mother, Rose, who is seeking $30 million in damages, says the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kasa City, Kansas is accountable for the actions of Roger Golubski, the former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective. Lamonte claims the detective framed him for a double homicide in 1994.
Golubski was the lead detective on April 15, 1994, when a double homicide occurred on Hutchings Street in Kansas City, Kansas. Quinn, 22, and Ewing, 34, were found dead. McIntyre was arrested just six hours after the shootings.
McIntyre’s mother, Rose, alleged that Golubski coerced her into sex and then framed her son for a double homicide in 1994 because she later rejected the detective’s sexual advances.
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McIntyres’ lawyers allege that Golubski abused Black women for years, exploiting them for sex and then using them as anonymous “informants” to clear cases or protect drug dealers. Including Rose McIntyre, 73 women’s initials are listed in the pretrial order.
According to his lawyer’s statement, Golubski denies the allegations and has asked that they not be allowed as evidence in the case. However, if the allegations are admitted, he will argue he was a good officer during his career from 1975 through 2010, when he retired.
“Golubski used his badge to protect the guilty, frame the (innocent), and serve his personal agenda, whether it was carrying out a vendetta or protecting the drug dealers who paid him,” the lawyers say.
McIntyre was freed from prison in 2017 after a local prosecutor asked the court to vacate his convictions and drop all charges. In 2020, he was awarded a certificate of innocence and $1.5 million from the state.
According to the lawsuit, McIntyre, who now lives in Arizona, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered other negative emotional impacts from his imprisonment.
According to CNN, since being released, McIntyre co-founded a nonprofit, Miracle of Innocence, to help others who are wrongfully convicted. He also is the co-owner and student instructor at Headlines Barber Academy in Kansas City.
“I’m not angry,” McIntyre told CNN affiliate KMBC last year. “I’m frustrated because I don’t like to see this kind of injustice happen to nobody.”
