Fierce blowback to parole decision in 1978 murder case could uproot Kansas’ system

By: Anna Kaminski

Outlets: Kansas Reflector

Published: March 23, 2026

Words: 968

Last Updated: 4 months, 1 week ago

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TOPEKA — Jimmie Nelms was caught on a dead-end road.

He rammed his 1973 white Mercury Marquis through a metal gate and a wire fence into a pasture, then head-on into a Kansas Highway Patrol car that had been tailing him. After a shootout, he and two others were arrested. Police eventually tied them to the murder of 26-year-old Kansas Highway Patrolman Conroy O’Brien earlier that morning.

A jury found Nelms guilty of premeditated murder …

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