Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of years Mike VonAllmen was wrongfully convicted. This has been corrected. (Oct. 3, 2024)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky exoneree is advocating for more financial rights ahead of next year’s legislative session.
The Louisville man spent time in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a crime in the 1980s. Now Mike VonAllmen drawing attention to the lack of compensation and calls for a change.
In Oct. 1981, his life turned upside down.
“What actually brought me to being convicted was I, I just happened to go into a bar in south Louisville a couple of nights after a serial rapist had struck out of that bar,” VonAllmen said.
Police drew a composite drawing based on the victim’s description which landed in that particular bar.
“And the day after they got this composite drawing of a big, curly-headed guy, I walked in, sat down, ordered a cold beer, and they were looking at this picture behind the bar and thought that, you know, the culprit had returned to the scene of the crime,” VonAllmen said.
Eventually, he was convicted in 1983 and served eleven years in prison.
“That’s how I got exonerated was after 16 years on parole. I got hooked up with the Kentucky Innocence Project. They uncovered this textbook case of mistaken identity,” VonAllmen said.
From 1994 to 2010, he spent these years on parole living in the truth that he didn’t commit the crime.
“Being without the right to vote for 27 years and alone is enough that there should be some restitution for the harm caused there. Let alone the struggles you had to go through as, like I say, 16 years. I was a convicted felon, a convicted sex offender. So having to fight my way through the world with that label.”
It’s a label Winnie Ye is also attempting to change through the Innocence Project.
“Currently in Kentucky, since 1989, there have been over 20 known exonerations. So these are 22 men and women who are wrongfully convicted, and incarcerated, for a crime that they did not commit. And they lost years, if not decades of their life, to a wrongful conviction,” Ye said.
Ahead of the upcoming legislative session, the Kentucky Innocence Project, a partner with the Innocence Project, is raising awareness about the lack of legislation in the state for financial compensation to eligible victims of wrongful incarceration.
“There are many immediate financial challenges that they face, they have to secure housing. They need access to health care for the many ailments that they got while they were wrongfully incarcerated. And today, you know, exonerees, innocent Kentuckians, are denied that financial compensation denied access to critical services,” Ye said.
Services that could help make up for lost time.
“The bill is not just about compensating lost wages. There’s some degree of pain and suffering involved in that money,” VonAllmen said.
During the last legislative session, State Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Middletown, presented a bill to address this issue. However, despite strong bipartisan support, it did not pass the General Assembly.