Darryl Burton, who spent 24 years of his life in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, will speak Monday as part of a Martin Luther King Jr. service in Iola.
The service will be at 7 p.m. at Iola’s Ward Chapel AME Church, at the intersection of Lincoln and Buckeye streets.
Burton’s story garnered national headlines in 2008 when he was released from prison after the state overturned his conviction for the 1984 murder of a drug dealer in his native St. Louis.
A false eyewitness account, one of the primary pieces of evidence prosecutors used in Burton’s trial, was rejected, leading to his exoneration.
As part of his two-plus decades behind bars, studying law and writing more than 600 letters to members of the government, non-profit organizations and even Oprah Winfrey to plead his case, Burton also turned to religion.
Since his release, Burton moved to Kansas City, Mo., and shares his story of adversity to help others and to spread the word of the Lord.
“God had to work something out of me (bitterness and hatred), in order to work something into me (love and grace), in order to do His work through me,” Burton wrote on his website, DarrylBurton.org.
He has since earned degrees in divinity from the St. Paul School of Theology, and continues to study computers and law at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo.
He is an associate pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, a weekly facility for a men’s worship group, serves as a youth mentor for a local high school and is involved in a number of charitable causes.
Monday’s service to honor the slain civil rights leader is open the public.
