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Lifestyles

Friday, October 30, 2009 12:00 PM

Man freed from prison to speak at OU

By The Herald Staff

After being sentenced to life in prison and serving 24 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit, Darryl Burton is coming to Ottawa University to share what he calls his story of survival and forgiveness with students and the community.

Burton says his presentation is designed to educate the public about his and other wrongful convictions and to motivate people to overcome the challenges and obstacles in their own lives.

He will speak at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 12 in the OU Chapel at 1001 S. Cedar St. The event is sponsored by the OU Chapter of Amnesty International and OU’s Arts and Cultural Events Committee.

Burton was convicted of capital murder in 1985 despite a lack of physical evidence or any motive tying him to a fatal 1984 gas station shooting in St. Louis.

He was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for 50 years but was finally freed Aug. 29, 2008, after spending 24 years in prison. Burton said the experience didn’t make him bitter. Rather it helped him find the Lord and gave him the ability to forgive making him a better person.

Burton was released from the Jefferson City Correctional Center when Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan overturned the first-degree murder conviction.

Jim McCloskey, founder of Centurion Ministries, and Burton’s local attorney, Cheryl Pilate, helped gain the overturning of Burton’s wrongful conviction.

Centurion Ministries’ primary mission is to vindicate and free from prison those who are innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted and imprisoned for life or death.

Burton originally was from St. Louis but now lives in Kansas City and travels around the country to share his story.

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Man freed from prison to speak at OU

By The Herald Staff

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.