The leader of the Kansas Highway Patrol expresses disappointment after a man convicted of killing a state trooper in 1978 is granted parole.

 

Superintendent of the K-H-P Colonel Erik Smith called the recent decision by the Kansas Prisoner Review Board to grant parole to Jimmie Nelms a “gut-punch.”

 

Nelms was sentenced to two life terms for the 1978 killing of State Trooper Conroy O’Brien during a traffic stop on the Kansas Turnpike near Matfield Green, between El Dorado and Emporia. As O’Brien was writing a citation, Nelms and two other men got out of their car and overpowered the 26-year-old trooper. They then forced him to kneel in the ditch where he was shot twice, execution-style in the head.

 

Smith went on to explain that while the idea of allowing a convicted cop-killer to be released from prison was unacceptable in his view, the legal framework does allow for parole. Smith added that troopers will continue to serve with professionalism and dignity.

 

Nelms is now in his 70s, and though no official date has been given for his release, the Board has stated that he will be released to out-of-state family.