Attorney General's News Release

June 6, 1996

Judge orders millionaire inmate serving life sentence for murder to pay state $97,000 for cost of incarceration

Jefferson City, Mo. — A Cole County judge has ordered an inmate who won a $4.3 million lawsuit 10 years ago but who is now serving a life sentence for murder to reimburse the state more than $97,000 for the costs of his incarceration.

Attorney General Jay Nixon sought the payment from Jefferson City Correctional Center inmate Darryl E. Gilyard, who was convicted in 1989 of first degree murder and armed criminal action and sentenced to life imprisonment, without the possibility of parole. Cole County Circuit Judge Thomas Brown this week ordered Gilyard to pay $97,724.61 for his confinement costs to date.

Nixon sued Gilyard under the Missouri Incarceration Reimbursement Act, a 1988 law that entitles the state to recover costs for inmate care after any obligations to a spouse or children are met. According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, it costs approximately $12,000 per year for incarceration costs at the prison in Jefferson City. Nixon's office collected more than $92,000 in incarceration reimbursement from inmates in 1995.

“If inmate have assets, we won't hesitate to go after those assets to pay for the costs of housing and feeding them,” Nixon said. “With the annuity Mr. Gilyard is receiving from his lawsuit, taxpayers will not have to shoulder the costs of his room and board.”

Gilyard receives a yearly payment from a lawsuit in which he won $4.3 million after being seriously injured in Blue Springs in 1984 when a gravel truck hit the garbage truck he was riding on. His legs were crushed and later amputated.

In 1988 Gilyard shot and killed a friend at a Kansas City apartment in what Jackson County prosecutors said was a drug-related murder. He was convicted of the crime and received a life sentence without parole.

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818