Justice demands freedom for Kansas woman who killed her rapist, but governor has to make the call

Advocates Dave Ranney and Sharon Sullivan argue that Sarah Gonzales McLinn deserves clemency during a presentation May 20, 2024, at the Lawrence Public Library. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

There’s no question that Sarah Gonzales-McLinn killed Lawrence businessman Hal Sasko. She was found guilty by a jury of her peers, and she’s serving a minimum 25-year prison sentence.

Yet someone can both be guilty of a heinous crime and also see it as their only way to escape a dire situation. Gonzales-McLinn, in advocates’ estimation, was the victim of sex trafficking by Sasko. She suffered repeated rape and abuse for his sexual gratification. Those advocates want Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to understand both truths and to grant Gonzales-McLinn clemency. More than a year into their efforts, they now want the public to contact Kelly’s office.

Former reporter Dave Ranney has appeared at recent public presentations, and he spoke to me for this week’s episode of the Kansas Reflector podcast.

He said Gonzales-McLinn’s account of the situation, in which she began living with Sasko at age 17, remains consistent.

“Sarah’s story has never changed. I mean, from day one,” he said. “Sara has been evaluated by two forensic psychologists, both of whom reach the same conclusion that she’s no longer a risk to society. And her story doesn’t change with either one of them. And these are professionals who are very accustomed to detecting whether someone is telling you the truth or making stuff up.”

When I wrote about Gonzales-McLinn in January 2023, I put it this way: She was failed on every level by the people in her life.

She was failed by people around her as a child and teen. She was failed by Sasko, who presented himself at first as a kindly parental figure before unfurling a devious scheme to bind her economically and psychologically. She was failed by those who knew about the situation but chose not to act. She was failed by the legal system that didn’t allow jurors to hear of her shocking abuse. And she has been thus far failed by a political system that should have redressed her situation long before now.

That fundamental take has not changed in the 16 months since.

Neither has Gonzales-McLinn’s address.

Michelle McCormick, executive director of the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, told me that advocates see similar situations all too often.

“The tactics that he used fit into all the categories that we train, when I provide professional training to law enforcement and prosecutors and advocates and health care providers and any person who will ever listen,” she said. “You know, we talk about the tactics that are used in sexual violence, domestic violence, in the emotional control tactics. The way somebody is identified as vulnerable. How someone will groom them, isolate them from supports, using emotional belittling tactics to try to chip away their self worth like that. The experiences that Sarah describes, in her own words, match the experiences of hundreds and hundreds of Kansans that I’ve worked with in the 25 years I have been an advocate.”

If we have failed Gonzales-McLinn, as I believe we have, think about all the other victims we have likewise failed along the way. Think of all the stories that we didn’t hear or believe. And think of the suffering that resulted.

“What bothers me the most, I think, is that none of this information was considered in any of the criminal processes,” McCormick said. “It wasn’t even considered in the early media coverage.”

If we don’t listen to or believe victims of sexual assault, we help perpetuate it.

That goes for lawyers, judges and journalists.

Writing or talking about injustice too often invites comparisons. What about other cases in which our justice system imprisoned people for crimes they did not commit? What about poverty or climate change or wars halfway around the globe? What about all of those people and their lives? Shouldn’t they come first in line? For that matter, what about law-abiding Americans struggling to make ends meet?

I have one answer: Care about this case because it can be addressed right now.

Care about this case because Gonzales-McLinn suffered a gross miscarriage of justice.

Care about this case because we cannot close our hearts to all the women and children who suffer at the hands of abusers.

Unfortunately, Kelly must grapple with politics. With primary and general elections coming up this year, Gonzales-McLinn’s freedom could well cost Democrats and moderate Republicans seats in the Legislature. I can imagine the mailers from big money groups now. No one takes office with the intention of costing their party or allies, and Kelly has two more years left in office.

I know what I think. But I’m not the one who holds the cards.

The final words today come from Gonzales-McLinn herself. She wrote a short note explaining what she hopes to do and accomplish if granted clemency. For those curious about her ambitions in the years ahead, please take a look. That goes for you too, governor.

“In a lot of ways, I just want to be normal,” she writes. “I want to hit the milestones that a lot of people my age do. Work, spend time with my family, finish college, hang out with friends, buy a home, go on vacations, just live my life.

“I also know that I have a strong desire to share my story. With the hope that it can help someone who is struggling to make it through something similar. I want people to know that there is life and healing after trauma. Even though it feels like things will never get better I want them to know it does. And your life doesn’t have to be defined by it. I want them to know that there is a future and hope.”

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.

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