‘Exonerate him’: Activists call for review of Kansas City man’s wrongful conviction claim
Gathered inside the Jackson County Courthouse, activists with Getting to the Heart of The Matter and It’s Time for Justice called on lead prosecutor Jean Peters Baker to reopen the case of Thomas Simmons, who they say in 2009 was wrongfully convicted of burglary.
“Our aim is to seek justice for this community member by asking the Prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker, to re-open this case, look at the evidence, exonerate this community member or and bring those to Justice who violated this individual’s 4th Amendment right as they she did in the Eric Devalkenaere case,” the groups wrote in a release on Friday ahead of the press conference.
A representative for the prosecutors office did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Simmons, who was released from prison in 2013, has for years alleged that then-supervisor in the Kansas City Police Department’s Metro Property Crimes Division, Brad Lemon falsified police reports when he arrested Simmons.
The groups said they have evidence and sworn affidavits of officers making statements that resulted in the violation of Simmons’ 4th Amendment right by entering his property without a warrant or exigent circumstances. They said too that they are in possession of DNA evidence that would exonerate Simmons.
They allege that Kansas City police came to Simmons’ home after he filed a multi-million lawsuit against the department because of a 1999 case and served him with a warrant for his arrest without any evidence proving that he had committed any crimes.
“We have statements under oath given by Brad Lemons the President of the Fraternal Order of Police stating that he came up on the property of the individual and put an GPS tracking device upon his vehicle without a warrant,” the groups allege. “We also have sworn affidavits with conflicting stories by other officers who were there with Brad Lemons at the time they were installing illegal GPS.”
Lemon had no comment. Over the phone he expressed that the matter had already been resolved in court.
The Star previously reported that Simmons told Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forté, who was KCPD police chief at the time, that though he was not guilty in the burglary case, he had taken a plea to avoid the long prison term he would face because of a prior conviction.
In an impassioned speech to media partners and her fellow organizers, Khadijah Hardaway, lead organizer for Justice for Wyandotte and a spokesperson for Thomas Simmons, said it was time for accountability.
“Look at the evidence, exonerate him and bring them to justice,” Hardaway said.
This story was originally published December 18, 2021 at 1:41 PM.
