Kelan Lyons
- Speechwriter and Content Specialist, Maryland Office of the Attorney General
As seen in:
Medium,
USA Today,
Yahoo News,
Washington Times,
Yahoo,
Daily Kos,
Hartford Courant,
CT Insider,
Fairfield Citizen,
Journal Inquirer
and
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Kelan Lyons
FLASHBACK 2018: According to a chilling new report, SLC and the state rank high for murdered and missing indigenous women.
In commemoration of City Weekly's 40th anniversary, we are digging into our archives to celebrate. Each week, we FLASHBACK to a story or column from our past in honor of four decades of local alt-journalism. Whether the names and issues are familiar or new, we are grateful to have this unique newspaper to contain them all. Title: Dying in Silence Author: Kelan Lyons Date: Dec.
CT absentee ballot measure could make voting more inclusive
This story first appeared in Bolts, and is reprinted with permission. In 2020, as the world grappled with a deadly global pandemic, Connecticut officials lifted restrictions limiting who can vote by mail, allowing every citizen in the state to obtain an absentee ballot. The results were historic: More than 650,000 Connecticut citizens voted absentee, roughly a third of all votes cast.
Connecticut Ballot Measure Could Make Voting More Inclusive - Bolts
Editor’s note (Nov. 6): Connecticut voters approved this ballot measure on Election Day. In 2020, as the world grappled with a deadly global pandemic, Connecticut officials lifted restrictions limiting who can vote by mail, allowing every citizen in the state to obtain an absentee ballot. The results were historic: More than 650,000 Connecticut citizens voted absentee, roughly a third of all votes cast.
Weekend reads: On protests, pipes and and power
by Clayton Henkel, NC Newsline May 5, 2024 Ratepayers plead with NC Utilities Commission to reject Duke Energy’s carbon plan A member of the Ragin’ Grannies, an environmental advocacy group, sings “No Frackin’ Way,” outside the Durham County Courthouse, where the NC Utilities Commission was holding a public hearing about Duke Energy’s carbon plan.
How NC's next Attorney General could impact voting rights Original
After the 2020 election, U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina became an outspoken proponent of the lie that Democrats had rigged the results. He accused the rival party of running a national campaign to tie up the courts and disrupt the election’s administration, announcing that he would contest Electoral College votes in four states that were key to Joe Biden’s victory.
Thousands released from NC prisons last year were homeless Original
About one in six people released from North Carolina prisons in 2023 were homeless, according to figures provided to NC Newsline — a rate the state hopes to cut in half by 2030. That goal is one part of an executive order issued by Gov. Roy Cooper in January to improve reentry supports for people getting out of prison. In issuing that mandate, Cooper set a series of ambitious goals, enrolling North Carolina in a national initiative known as Reentry 2030.
Federal judge declares voting law unconstitutional Original
North Carolina district attorneys cannot prosecute people on supervision for felony convictions if they mistakenly cast a ballot before regaining their right to vote, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The reason, according to a ruling issued by District Judge Loretta C. Biggs: the underlying law was enacted to discriminate against Black North Carolinians — and continues to do so today.
Meet the volunteers trying to 'Flip' North Carolina's courts Original
It all started with Donald Trump’s win in 2016. After the election, a group of shellshocked progressive Durham Democrats met at a bar to commiserate over their loss. “We just were obviously horrified post-2016 election,” said Andrea Cash. “And that was the real moment of, ‘What are we going to do?'” What they did was create FLIP NC, an all-volunteer grassroots organization co-founded by Amy Cox and Briana Brough.
Gov. Roy Cooper erred in COVID-19 bar closures
The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Gov. Roy Cooper’s closure of certain bars, but not restaurants, in the early months of the pandemic was “irrational and arbitrary,” not based on data and science.
Judge allows foster children discrimination lawsuit to proceed
A lawsuit alleging the state locks foster children with disabilities in psychiatric residential treatment facilities rather than providing them housing and community services can move forward, a federal judge ruled late last month. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services tried to get the case dismissed, but U.S. District Court Judge William L. Osteen Jr. allowed the case to proceed.
Reentry council hears about prison educational efforts
As Brooke Wheeler sees it, offering educational programming to those in North Carolina prisons isn’t just helping the incarcerated. Education is transformational not just for those behind bars, Wheeler said, but for their children, their parents and their broader communities. “As we help individuals make changes, we help one person make change, that has a generational impact,” said Wheeler, the Superintendent of Education Services for the state’s Department of Adult Correction.
One-third of NC jails provide meds for Opioid Use Disorder
A new report from Disability Rights North Carolina found that 37% of the state’s jails provide medications for Opioid Use Disorder. Local and state governments have a legal responsibility to provide those medications, as individuals with the disorder are protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act. However, most prisons and jails do not. The prevalence of those medications in North Carolina jails was slightly higher than the national average of 30%.
Opioid, drug and alcohol addiction in NC prisons
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline April 8, 2024 Late last year, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement in an ongoing lawsuit explaining how the Americans With Disability Act impacted the availability of medications for opioid use disorder in jails and prisons.
State responds to juvenile detention solitary confinement lawsuit
“Defendants specifically deny a policy, custom, or practice of solitary confinement. Defendants further deny that confining juveniles to their rooms for over 23 hours a day is a normal or accepted practice,” wrote Orlando L. Rodriguez and Matthew Tulchin, special deputy attorneys general, in a response filed with the court Thursday.
Prison job vacancies high as prison population exceeds projections
About 39% of correctional officers jobs in North Carolina prisons are vacant, but officials are optimistic because the agency is hiring more people faster than employees are quitting. “I can tell you that we’ve had a significant decline in the number of, ‘I’m unhappy, I quit,’ and that’s really where our work has focused on,” Todd Ishee, secretary of the Department of Adult Correction, said Thursday afternoon to members of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety.
Panel discusses 'the capacity crisis' facing many in NC jails
Across North Carolina, more than 200 people with serious mental illnesses are waiting in jail for a bed in a state psychiatric hospital before their criminal cases can proceed. “Many people do sit months and months, over a year, not getting the treatment that they need,” said Dr. Robert Cochrane, the statewide director of the Forensic Services Division of State-Operated Healthcare Facilities at the Department of Health and Human Services. “And the jails… just don’t have the resources.
Brief says Asheville reporters' convictions threaten press freedom
In a brief recently filed with the state Court of Appeals on behalf of two journalists convicted of trespassing while covering police actions in Asheville, the director of Duke University School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic called the convictions “a dangerous step toward the evisceration of freedom of the press in North Carolina.” Journalists charged with trespassing while reporting are rarely taken to trial.
Asheville journalists seek to have trespassing convictions overturned - Editor and Publisher
Posted Thursday, March 28, 2024 9:44 am In a brief recently filed with the state Court of Appeals on behalf of two journalists convicted of trespassing while covering police actions in Asheville, the director of Duke University School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic called the convictions “a dangerous step toward the evisceration of freedom of the press in North Carolina.” Journalists charged with trespassing while reporting are rarely taken to trial.
Commission calls on judges to eliminate racial bias and inequality
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments.
Commission calls on judges to eliminate racial bias and inequality
In a conference held in Durham last month, a retired federal judge told a room full of judges, lawyers and criminal justice advocates that judges play a crucial role in eliminating bias and inequality in the criminal justice system. “In one sense, when you ask what role judges and courts should have in extirpating inequality, the answer is we basically set it up. We embodied it. We nurtured it.
New information unearthed about NC Parole Commission
In 2019, Joy Smith, a part-time case analyst with the North Carolina Parole Commission, passed along allegations to her colleagues that Brett Abrams had locked his brother in a camper and set it on fire in 1982, killing the young boy. “It appears Abrams was jealous of him,” Smith wrote of the man eligible for parole for another crime. Excluded from Smith’s case summary was that local law enforcement had deemed the boy’s death an accident in 1984.
NC Supreme Court dismisses suit to save Confederate monument
The North Carolina Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Friday afternoon that had been attempting to save a Confederate monument in Asheville. The Society for the Historical Preservation of the 26th North Carolina Troops sued to stop the city’s removal of a 75-foot-tall monument to Zebulon Vance, a Confederate and two-time governor who also served in the U.S. Senate, and potentially force them to re-erect it.
Racial Justice Act re-sentencing hearing concludes
Published Thursday, March 14, 2024 9:00 pm By Kelan Lyons | NC Newsline COURT EXHIBIT FOR HASSON BACOTE A billboard that welcomed people to Smithfield, a town in Johnston County, stood until the 1970s, “but the efforts to keep Black Johnstonians off juries continued,” said Henderson Hill, one of the attorneys for Hasson Bacote, a Black man sentenced to death in Johnston County in 2009.
Johnston County gets its first public defender this summer
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline March 14, 2024 Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Lock appointed A. Traynham Dorn to be Johnston County’s first public defender on Thursday. Dorn spent more than 20 years in private practice representing people facing crimes in district and superior courts. She will be the Public Defender for Defender District 13 as of July 1, 2024. Public defenders represent people who are legally entitled to counsel but can’t afford to hire their own attorneys.
NC attorney general candidates on opposite sides of TikTok vote
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline March 13, 2024 Last fall, U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop told Raleigh’s News & Observer that TikTok is “a Chinese Communist Party-owned social media platform,” and called his colleague U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson a “Chinese social media star” for using it.
Judge keeps lawsuit alive for police protestors banned from Asheville parks
A federal judge declined to dismiss a case against 15 people banned from public parks by the City of Asheville after they participated in a protest in Aston Park on Christmas night 2021. Those gathered at the park had been advocating on behalf of the city’s homeless, a sizable population in the expensive mountain town. After the park had closed for the evening, police cleared the tents and told everyone to leave.
Gov. Roy Cooper speaks at prison reentry council
The head of North Carolina’s prison system spent some time in jail Tuesday. “They wouldn’t let me use my cell phone, so I couldn’t even call somebody I knew to try and help get me out a little bit sooner” said Todd Ishee, the secretary of the Department of Adult Correction. It wasn’t a real jail. It was a “reentry simulation” held at the Wake Tech Beltline Education Center for Ishee and other members of the Joint Reentry Council.
Racial Justice Act hearing concludes - for now
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline March 8, 2024 Arguments concluded Friday in a Johnston County judicial proceeding that will have significant implications for about 120 people on North Carolina’s death row. For the past two weeks attorneys for Hasson Bacote, a Black man sentenced to death in Johnston County in 2009, have put the death penalty on trial.
Seeking racial justice in North Carolina ‘Klan Country’
Seeking racial justice in North Carolina ‘Klan Country’ CENTER FOR DEATH PENALTY LITIGATION Hasson Bacote in a recent picture taken at Central Prison in Raleigh, where North Carolina’s death row for men is located. Crystal Sanders did not think the billboards were that well known.
Jury selection, stereotypes examined in Racial Justice Act hearing
Research presented in a Johnston County courtroom last week showed Black people were 10 times more likely than members of other races to be struck from juries in capital cases tried by former Assistant District Attorney Gregory Butler, but in testimony this week Butler maintained that he went out of his way to ensure a person’s race did not impact his decision to remove them from a jury. “I’ve never, ever struck a juror without having race-neutral reasons.
It will be Stein v. Robinson for NC Governor
NC Newsline is posting results as they become available from today’s North Carolina primary election. Please check back regularly.
'Johnston County is Klan Country,' expert says in court hearing
Crystal Sanders did not think the billboards were that well known. They’d come down before she’d been born, erected in the 1960s as a response to the Civil Rights Movement: A robed white man with a burning cross encouraged passersby to fight communism and integration by joining the Ku Klux Klan. But when Sanders got to Duke University in the early 2000s and told a class she was from Clayton, her professor had an immediate reaction.
Looking ahead to tomorrow's big and important primary election in NC • NC Newsline
Tomorrow is Super Tuesday — the day on which voters in North Carolina and 14 other states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia) go to the polls to help select the major party nominees for this November’s presidential election. And unlike the other 14, Tuesday is also the day on which North Carolina voters will select major party nominees for governor and a host of other statewide offices.
Black defendants in Johnston County get death sentences
Every Black person who has faced a jury in a capital trial in Johnston County between 1991 and 2014 received a death sentence, an expert in an ongoing hearing testified on Thursday. Data analyzed by Richard Smith, a professor of statistics at UNC-Chapel Hill, revealed that no Black defendants tried in capital cases in Johnston County received life sentences; they all were sentenced to death.
RJA hearing expert: Race is a factor in prosecutors’ decision to strike jurors
You are here: Home / News Articles / RJA hearing expert: Race is a factor in prosecutors’ decision to strike jurors
race is a factor in prosecutors' decision to strike jurors
In poring over thousands of pages of court transcripts and prosecutors’ notes on jury selection in capital cases across North Carolina between 1985 and 2011, Barbara O’Brien developed an opinion on whether a person’s race played a role in prosecutors’ decision to strike them from serving on a jury. “It is my opinion that race was a statistically significant factor,” O’Brien, a professor at Michigan State University College of Law, said in a Johnston County courtroom Tuesday.
Death penalty on trial as Racial Justice Act hearing begins
In 1968, days after the Ku Klux Klan marched through Black neighborhoods in Benson following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., five young Black adolescents tried to burn down the Klan’s meeting hall in the Johnston County town. The fire did not travel past the doorway.
Lawyers to argue in court death penalty 'a legacy of racial terrorism'
Almost 230 years ago, a Johnston County jury convicted an enslaved Black woman named Jenny of poisoning the family that owned her. She was burned to death 10 days later. Fifty years ago, members of the Ku Klux Klan rode through Black neighborhoods in Benson brandishing weapons in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The violent, racist hate group held marches in Johnston County in the 1990s, and were active at least into the 2000s.
Appeals Court orders new trial for man convicted by 13 jurors
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline February 20, 2024 The North Carolina Court of Appeals ordered a new trial Tuesday for a man imprisoned for life for a shooting at a Raleigh motel because a lower court allowed an alternate juror to participate in the jury deliberations after they had already begun.
Prison reentry council meets for the first time
The Joint Reentry Council kicked off its ambitious “whole-of-government” approach Thursday, which is says will improve the lives of people released from prison. “This group right here is on the front end of an initiative that is going to change the trajectory of people’s lives, families’ lives, for decades,” Todd Ishee, secretary of the Department of Adult Correction, told the members. “Our work is going to create safer communities.” Gov.
DHHS putting $5.5 million into prison reentry program
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline February 14, 2024 The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will award $5.5 million to a program that provides psychiatric and physical health care services to people coming home from jail or prison, the agency announced this week. The money will go to the FIT Wellness Program, a part of the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program in the UNC School of Medicine.
Webinar warns judges' partisanship means 'there are no guardrails'
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline February 14, 2024 North Carolinians should be concerned about the high stakes of the 2024 judicial elections — and beyond, social justice leaders say. “Our courts have been, and should be, the guard rails.
Weekend reads: NCSU's cancer cluster, campaign finance issues, and a $804K charter school error | NC Newsline
Breast cancer cluster suspected at NC State’s Poe Hall, contaminated with PCBs; separate study shows those chemicals linked to that cancer Testing showed five rooms in Poe Hall at NC State University contained materials with high levels of PCBs, a likely carcinogen.
DoJ lawyer says prisoner can serve the same sentence twice
A lawyer for the North Carolina Department of Justice argued in court Wednesday that a man should be allowed to serve the same prison sentence twice, even though he had already done his time for that crime. “This is a question of what authority does North Carolina’s statutory law give a trial judge at re-sentencing,” said Heidi M. Williams, special deputy attorney general.
AG's Office pushes for delay in landmark Racial Justice Act hearing
A hearing scheduled for later this month could clear a path for the 136 people on North Carolina’s death row to one day get resentenced to life without the possibility of parole — or bring them one step closer to the execution chamber. Beginning Feb.
Appeals Court upholds LWOP for teen who killed two police officers
The North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld a life-without-parole sentence on Tuesday for a man convicted of killing a state highway patrol trooper and Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy in 1997, when he was a child. Kevin Salvador Golphin was 17 years old when he and his brother shot and killed the two lawmen trying to arrest them for stealing a car.
Gov. Roy Cooper joins Reproductive Freedom Alliance
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline January 30, 2024 Gov. Roy Cooper joined the Reproductive Freedom Alliance in filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that encourages the justices to preserve access to mifepristone, an FDA-approved medication for abortion. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on March 26. Their ruling could severely restrict access to the drug used for both abortions and miscarriage care. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in 2000.
The latest on campaign financing in NC courts, AG races
Year-end reports were due to the State Board of Elections last week, shedding light on which candidates are well-financed heading into the primaries on March 5 — and who donated to whom. Below is a breakdown of the latest campaign finance reports from statewide elections that will impact the administration of justice in North Carolina.
Cooper joins amicus brief in mifepristone SCOTUS case
Gov. Roy Cooper joined the Reproductive Freedom Alliance in filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday that encourages the justices to preserve access to mifepristone, an FDA-approved medication for abortion. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case on March 26. Their ruling could severely restrict access to the drug used for both abortions and miscarriage care. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in 2000.
Cooper issues executive order to help people leaving prison
by Kelan Lyons, NC Newsline January 29, 2024 Gov. Roy Cooper issued a sweeping executive order Monday aimed at helping the roughly 18,000 people released from North Carolina prisons every year. “Every person deserves the opportunity to live a life of joy, success, and love, even when we make mistakes,” Cooper said in a press conference at the governor’s mansion.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Kelan
Contact Kelan, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack