Former Kansas US Attorney: Ex-felon L. Stephen Barbee ‘should get a pardon’

When former U.S. Attorney for the Kansas District Stephen R. McAllister, dedicates an unlimited amount of time to help gain a tough-to-come-by presidential pardon for a federally convicted felon, one wonders what about this former drug offender warrants such high-powered attention.

So I asked.

“It’s his sincerity, humility, his honesty,” McAllister said of L. Stephen Barbee, a former Kansas college star athlete who was convicted of a felony 14 years ago for drug possession and distribution.

The crime landed Barbee, a drug abuser at the time, in federal prison. Barbee makes no secret of that. It’s his public testimony. I watched him tell his story in a dynamic sermon he gave on grace one Sunday at a small Kansas City store-front church attended by folks who’ve been down on their luck in life.

Barbee has used his story to connect with people needing inspiration from someone who has been where they have been. “The brokenness,” he said, is “what feeds those who are hungry.” If he could rise, so could they.

“The guy has worked so hard to atone for what he did,” McAllister told me. “He has helped a lot of people. He builds bridges. He wants to help people come together and make things better.”

So McAllister didn’t hesitate to represent Barbee in an application for a presidential pardon – a first for McAllister.

While McAllister believes Barbee, a minister, inspirational speaker and an advocate for criminal justice reform, is worthy, the petition could be a long shot. People “don’t get a pardon just because they want one,” McAllister said.

But if a person’s story is a reason, Barbee has a good chance. The 57-year-old grew up in Lawrence. He played football for Highland Community College and then Peru State in Nebraska, where he was introduced to alcohol and drugs.

For a short time, in the 80s, Barbee coached football at Haskell Indian Nations University. He then moved to Chicago, where he became addicted to crack cocaine and hit bottom. He got sober, became a street evangelist and met his first wife.

He worked as a chaplain in a Chicago Christian medical center and then at a shelter for homeless men until his wife left in 2000. One night he drank a beer, then two and a week later “smoked $700 to $800 worth of crack,” he said. He lost his job and spent a year hustling to maintain his drug habit.

He eventually moved back home to Lawrence. That’s where he got caught up in a federal sting buying drugs. Barbee was accused of being part of a drug ring and in 2008 went to prison for nearly three years.

Here’s the amazing part. He got out and lived and worked out of a halfway house in Kansas City. He then connected with Metro Lutheran Ministry, which had fed and sheltered him when he was homeless. He became a program coordinator, then executive director. He left to join Connections for Success, the personal development training ministry.

One of his workers was Jermaine Wilson, a former convicted felon who eventually became mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas. He, too, wants a pardon for Barbee.

Today Barbee works for a prison fellowship serving inmates in correctional facilities in Missouri and Kansas.

Clay County Judge Sherrill Roberts met Barbee in court where he sat, day after day, connecting with folks in trouble for not paying child support and helping them find ways to do better.

Together Roberts and Barbee have lectured judges across the country on developing programs that help offenders improve their life skills.

“Stephen has renewed my faith in humanity and second chances,” said Roberts who’s spent 16 years sitting on the bench. “He exemplifies what a person can do with a second chance because he’s done more with his than most have done with a first chance.”

A pardon won’t erase Barbee’s conviction. He’d still answer yes on documents asking if he’s ever been convicted of a felony. But that’s OK because a pardon would be a tool to show others what’s possible.

“That man should get a pardon,” said David Anderson, board president of Metro Lutheran Ministry, where Barbee is a member.

“Whatever society says he owes,” said Anderson, “he’s paid that.”

Now forgiveness is in order.

This story was originally published March 27, 2022 at 5:00 AM.