KS man granted clemency by Gov. Kelly is Chiefs fan and has tickets to AFC title game | Opinion
I am happy for Deshaun Durham, a 24-year-old lifelong Chiefs fan from Manhattan, Kansas. Durham will be in Kansas City for Saturday’s playoff game against Houston at Arrowhead Stadium. The contest will mark Durham’s third trip to GEHA Field since he was released from Kansas’ Hutchinson Correctional Center on Dec. 6.
Not to jinx the team, but Durham said he is so confident that quarterback Patrick Mahomes — his favorite player — and the Chiefs will handle business this weekend that he’s already purchased a ticket to the AFC Championship Game on Jan. 26. If the Chiefs beat the Texans for the second time in less than a month, they will host that game at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I’m looking forward to Mahomes doing his thing,” Durham said.
I’ve written about Durham, a nonviolent drug offender, before. In one piece, I wrote that the eight-year prison sentence he was given for a nonviolent marijuana offense was unjust. In that column, I urged Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to consider Durham’s request for clemency.
In November, Kelly announced she had commuted Durham’s sentence. I must commend Kelly for that. It was simply the right thing to do. Durham was a first-time offender who made a bad mistake. He should not have had a little over two pounds of cannabis in his Manhattan apartment when law enforcement officials in Riley County raided his spot.
But he said he had just turned 20 when authorities seized the marijuana. A youthful misstep for sure, but not one that should have put him behind bars for almost a decade.
Durham spent the next two years out of jail on bail while the legal process played out. Thankfully, he kept his head down, obtained a job as a delivery driver at a local Chinese restaurant and stayed clear of the wheeling and dealing that landed him in hot water, court records show.
Eventually, Durham pleaded guilty to one count of marijuana possession with intent to distribute. Thanks to an overzealous Riley County prosecutor and an unmerciful judge, Durham was handed a very harsh punishment. He served about two years before his release. Two days later, he attended the Chiefs’ 19-17 win against the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead.
“It was pretty surreal,” Durham said this week. “Being there in person was pretty crazy.”
Durham also attended the Chiefs’ 27-19 home win over Houston on Dec. 21. For two years, Durham said he watched Chiefs games in prison on a 13-inch television. Watching his favorite team play in person was difficult for Durham to put into words.
“Words can’t describe how big of a difference that is,” he said.
I hate to admit this, but the young fella has been to more Chiefs games in just over a month than I have all season. And I live less than a 15-minute drive away from the Truman Sports Complex. Forgive me, Chiefs fans. I will make up for my inexcusable absence next season.
During our recent conversation, Durham told me that he is still employed at the same restaurant that hired him before he went to prison. He has about 18 months left to serve on parole. Once that ends, Durham said he plans to leave Riley County and move to Kansas City to learn a trade. He also envisions owning a marijuana dispensary that caters to sports fans and cannabis consumers, he said.
Now that sounds like a man with a plan.
