TOPEKA, KS – A bill was reintroduced in late January by Kansas state lawmakers in the hope of protecting citizens from wrongful imprisonment, according to WIBW-TV in Topeka.
The Midwest Innocence Project joined the lawmakers to announce the Pete Coones Memorial Act, legislation that requires attorneys to “disclose terms promised to jailhouse informants and previous cases they have testified in.”
WIBW reported the bill was inspired by Pete Coones, a wrongly-convicted prisoner who spent 12 years in prison because of false jailhouse witness testimony.
Coones’ son, Ben Coones, told the news outlet his father “is not here and he is not here because of lies that were spoken against him in a court of law. He is not here because accountability was not maintained by those who sought to prosecute him. What happened to my family was a tragedy and I know in my heart that we were not the only one.”
According to Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of Midwest Innocence Project, in order to ensure prosecutors’ compliance with constitutional obligations and provide important information, the state will continue to implement the use of a jailhouse informant, said WIBW.
WIBW added the bill has never made it to the floor in the Kansas Senate despite being previously passed through the House.
