Kansas City Star profiles Skillicorn's "two lives"

Barring a last-minute reprieve, convicted killer Dennis Skillicorn has only three days to live.

Today's Kansas City Star includes a profile of the "two lives" of Skilicorn, the life that led him to death row, and the life he has forged since going to prison:

But friends and supporters say the Dennis Skillicorn sentenced in 1996 to die — a drug-abusing burglar convicted of participating in four murders — no longer exists.

Instead, they call him a leader, respected by both the corrections staff and other inmates, and a peacemaker whose good deeds transcend penitentiary walls.

“I know he’s not the same man who came into prison,” said Bill Henry, a volunteer who has worked with Skillicorn for years in a Christian-based group. “The good things he’s done you can’t even count.”

For Skillicorn, prison deeds are all he can do to make amends for a life of crime.

“If I had three lifetimes, I know I can’t repay society for the things I’ve done,” he said in a recent phone interview. “But I think we have a responsibility to build up what we once tore down with our criminal behavior.”