Pastor Darryl Burton arrived in Durango earlier this month to tell his harrowing story of wrongful conviction and incarceration, exoneration and transformation to churchgoers, youth boxers and Fort Lewis College criminology students.
Co-founder of the Miracle of Innocence project, Burton spent 24 years in Missouri State Penitentiary, first described by Time Magazine in a 1967 story as “the bloodiest 47 acres in America,” after he was wrongly convicted of a St. Louis, Missouri, murder in 1984.
He was 22 years old. His sentence was life without the possibility of parole for 75 years – a life sentence for all intents and purposes. And he was innocent all along, with zero evidence connecting him to the crime, he said.
Burton’s exoneration and release from prison on Aug. 29, 2008, was by his account only possible through divine intervention. It led to a stark reversal of his beliefs, or lack thereof, in a higher power and his cofounding of the Miracle of Innocence project.
How Burton, a former boxer who in his youth sparred with to-be greats such as Leon Spinks before his conviction, found himself in Durango is itself a serendipitous story. One that starts with a chance encounter between Katy Kopec, owner of The Good Fight Boxing Gym, and Burton at a convention in Kansas City.
Kopec has been serving as director of Summit Church, a United Methodist Church in Durango, for about a year as of this spring, but she was in over her head.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” she said.
In April, the church sent her to a hospitality conference in Kansas City where she could meet other church directors, listen to speakers and get a feel for the world she’d immersed herself in. She said she was milling about the lobby when she ran into Burton.
She and Burton, an associate pastor with the United Methodist Church and pastor at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, struck up a conversation. She mentioned she’s from Durango, which piqued his interest.
Burton said he likes to travel, and Kopec, wanting to continue the conversation, asked him what his story was.
“He summed it up kind of quickly and, of course, moved me to tears. So I gave him a big hug, and I said, ‘Man, you know, I just, I really would love if you came to Durango, and not only to our church, but I have a boxing gym,” she said.
Without delving into details, she said she just knew Burton’s story would resonate with some of the youth boxers at The Good Fight Boxing Gym.
“It was just a beautiful – well, non coincidence, I think it was. Our paths crossed for a reason,” she said.
Others at Summit Church in Durango had heard Burton’s story before, and when Kopec pitched the idea of having him speak to the congregation, they were on board. Summit Church paid for Burton's ticket to Durango and he arrived the weekend of Sept. 7-8, she said.
Making the most of his time in Durango, a city he’s never visited before, Burton not only spoke at Summit Church on Sept. 8 and The Good Fight Boxing Gym on Sept. 10. He also scheduled visits to several Fort Lewis College criminology classes where he and students discussed criminal justice.
Kopec said on Wednesday Burton also attended a Parkinson's support group she hosts at the gym.
“(His) message of just persevering and not giving up is relevant,” she said.
When Burton spoke to boxers, his audience was completely wrapped up in his story, she said.
“If you put the right people in vicinity of each other, then they get to connect. … Kids, without oversharing, that probably need to know Darryl and have a mentor like that or someone like that in their life. So that made me happy.”
Two boxing fans and members of faith bumping into each other at a United Methodist Church convention in Kansas City is just the first in a short string of “non coincidences” linking Kopec and Burton to each other.
Kopec is organizing a middleweight boxing title fight to Durango scheduled for Oct. 12 at the La Plata County Fairgrounds. She also organized the “Animus on the Animas” amateur boxing event in July. While Burton was making the rounds inspiring youths, one of the title fight boxers arrived into town.
Hector “Macho” Comacho Jr, who is slated to fight Andrew “Hurricane” Hernandez for the middleweight title next month, arrived in Durango on Thursday for a month of elevation training ahead of the big bout.
The title fight and amateur fights leading up to it will air on Pay-Per-View and will feature several special guests from the professional boxing scene, Mike Cooley, JJ Cooley, Bonecrusher (James Smith) and Butterbean (Eric Esch), according to Ellen Babers, Durango community events coordinator.
Butterbean will receive an award presented by Khalilah Ali, the widow of renowned professional boxer Muhammed Ali.
Mike Dempsey of the Jack Dempsey family will also be in Durango for the title fight, Babers said.
Mike Dempsey of the Jack Dempsey family will be in Durango for a boxing middleweight title fight between Hector “Macho” Camacho and Andrew “Hurricane” Hernandez on Oct. 12 at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.
In 1915, Jack Dempsey the “Manassa Mauler” delivered a knockdown to Andy Malloy after 10 rounds of fighting at a venue at Main Avenue and west 10th Street, according to the Historical Marker Database. Dempsey won $50 and went on to become the world heavyweight champion in 1919. The fight was immortalized in a mural on the side of El Rancho Tavern at 10th Street and Main Avenue where the fight occurred.
The Miracle of Innocence project
The Good Fight Boxing Gym owner Katy Kopec said she has members ranging from 5 years old to 95 years old. When Pastor Darryl Burton, a former boxer and exoneree, visited the gym Tuesday evening to tell his story of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, he met gym member George Keen, 95, and the pair traded mock blows after Burton asked to see his stance.
Speaking to an audience of about 40 people at the boxing gym, Burton told his story of incarceration and exoneration. He said for a long time he resented the justice system and religion because of his wrongful conviction and imprisonment.
His hate for the justice system “gripped my heart like a vice grip,” he said. Police, judges, prosecutors – he hated them all for many years, he said.
“I don't want to hear about nobody’s god,” he added. “Humans did this to me.”
That was a long time ago. Today, Burton devotes his energy to helping other innocent victims of wrongful convictions through the Miracle of Innocence project.
The project helps innocent people released from prison reintegrate into society. When he was released, he was shocked to learn there aren’t many resources out there for people in his circumstance, he said.
Reentry programs for inmates released after serving time for crimes they did commit turn away innocent people wrongfully imprisoned. They could lose funding for not sticking to their precise mission, he said.
“We can't even go and get some support from these reentry programs because we're not guilty. We were not guilty. It's crazy, man. The system is jacked up. It's all twisted,” he said. “… We help people get out and then help them when they come home.”
– Herald Staff
cburney@durangoherald.com
