A public comment hearing is planned on Thursday for a man sentenced to prison in 1978 in connection with the execution-style murder of Kansas Highway Turnpike Patrol Trooper Conroy O’Brien.
The hearing for Walter Myrick, 54, will be held in Wichita between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Finney State Office building in Room 3080. The office is located at 230 William St.
Myrick was one of three men arrested in the case, which arose when O’Brien stopped a car in which the men were riding on the Kansas Turnpike on May 24, 1978, near the Matfield Green service area.
According to records, O’Brien, then 26 years old, was in his car, writing a speeding ticket to Myrick, who was 25 at the time. Witnesses at the trial said that a passenger in the Myrick vehicle, Jimmie K. Nelms, then 31, got out of the vehicle, pointed a gun at O’Brien and ordered him from the patrol car.
The men forced O’Brien to clasp his hands behind his head and walk to a ditch, where he was ordered to kneel and then was shot twice with his own .357 Magnum gun. Witnesses said that Nelms fired the shots.
After a chase that ended in a gun battle near Herington, officers captured Nelms and Myrick, both of Tulsa, and another man, Stanford Swain. Swain testified for the prosecution after pleading guilty to lesser charges.
O’Brien’s wife, Tanda, was pregnant with their first child, a daughter, Neely, at the time of the murder.
Myrick and Nelms were convicted in Butler County and sentenced to consecutive life terms for first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping. They also were convicted of aggravated weapons violations. Nelms received nine years on the weapons charge; Myrick received six years.
Troop Commander Capt. John Walters of the Kansas Highway Patrol, Turnpike, will testify against Myrick’s release at the hearing. Walters was preparing for a final employment interview with KHP the day the shooting occurred.
“It’s one of the harder things I have to do,” Walters said, adding that O’Brien’s family attends every parole hearing.
Walters plans to tell the parole board of the far-reaching effects on the family and O’Brien’s co-workers.
“You see, this tragedy reached out and affected many, many people and it still does today,” Walters said. “If you talk to these folks now, after almost 29 years you still see the pain and loss in their faces.”
According to information from the Kansas Department of Corrections website, Myrick has had four disciplinary reports on file with KDOC since January 1996. The latest, on Feb. 21, 2007, was for having dangerous contraband. His disciplinary reports also contain these violations: answering calls or passes, theft, and violation of published orders.
Myrick, whose true name is Tommy McClendon on the KDOC web site, is being held in the Lansing Correctional Facility-Central, a low-medium security prison.
Nelms’ application for parole was turned down in 2006. He is being held in Hutchinson Correctional Facility-East, also a low-medium security prison.
People who want to make comments on Myrick’s possible parole, but who are unable to attend the public comment session, may send a letter to: Kansas Parole Board, Landon State Office Building, 900 SW Jackson St., Room 452 S. Topeka KS 66612-1220.
Myrick’s first possible parole date is May 1.