BACKGROUND: "Eleven retired Missouri judges, including a former state supreme court justice, contend a St. Louis judge wrongly denied a hearing for a man convicted of murder even though the prosecutor has concluded he is innocent and was framed by local police and prosecutors. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed before the state Supreme Court this week, the retired judges joined a growing chorus of support including 45 elected prosecutors, legal scholars, criminal defense attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union who support the effort by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner to overturn the conviction of Lamar Johnson. Last July, Gardner filed a motion for a new trial in Johnson’s case after her conviction integrity unit re-investigated the 25-year-old murder investigation into the death of Marcus Boyd. The review found that in 1994 and 1995 police fabricated evidence that linked Johnson to the crime. And during Johnson’s trial, the motion for a new trial states, prosecutors failed to disclose the extensive criminal history of a jailhouse informant and more than $4,000 in payments to the only known living eyewitness to the shooting. But Missouri 22nd Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Hogan never considered the merits of the motion. Instead, Hogan appointed the Missouri attorney general’s office to also represent the state in the matter, questioning Gardner’s authority to even ask that the case be reopened. That set off a clash between the two prosecutorial agencies, and the attorney general’s office sought to dismiss the motion for a new trial. Hogan ultimately declared she had no authority to consider the motion. On appeal, the appellate court upheld Hogan’s ruling, but the court transferred the case to the Missouri Supreme Court for further review. In its opinion, the appellate court cited the fundamental questions about the criminal justice system the case raised, including the appropriate role of a prosecutor in correcting wrongful convictions. Johnson, who has served more than 25 years of a lifetime prison term with no opportunity for parole, remains incarcerated. The friend-of-the-court brief submitted this week by the retired judges noted that prosecutor’s obligations include “taking appropriate action when the prosecutor obtains evidence—even after a conviction is final—that casts doubt on the conviction.”
From Injustice Watch story by reporter Emily Hoerner.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "A system of justice that supports the continued incarceration of an innocent man is a failed system and the dogmatic, strained interpretation of the rules and procedure is one the chief law enforcement officer of the state should not be proudly championing,” Johnson’s attorney Lindsay Runnels said in a filing Monday."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Johnson has long maintained his innocence. Last year, Gardner’s Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed Johnson’s case and in collaboration with the Midwest Innocence Project filed a motion for a new trial on his behalf. Gardner claimed to have uncovered police corruption and misconduct by one of her office’s former prosecutors through secret payments to a witness, falsified police reports and perjured testimony."
STORY: "Arguments go remote in Lamar Johnson's murder case because of coronavirus," by Reporter Joel Courier, published by The St. Louis Dispatch on April 14, 2020.
GIST: "In a first for the Missouri Supreme Court, lawyers arguing for and against a St. Louis man’s request for a new trial in a 1994 murder will give arguments remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lawyers for Circuit Attorney Kimberly M. Gardner and Lamar Johnson, 46, who has served nearly 25 years in prison for a murder they claim he didn’t commit, will make their case remotely that Johnson is innocent and deserves a new trial. A court spokeswoman said the court is using a videoconferencing platform called WebEx.
“A system of justice that supports the continued incarceration of an innocent man is a failed system and the dogmatic, strained interpretation of the rules and procedure is one the chief law enforcement officer of the state should not be proudly championing,” Johnson’s attorney Lindsay Runnels said in a filing Monday.
The case has generated widespread attention, with nearly 200 prosecutors, legal scholars and retired judges across Missouri and the nation filing court briefs weighing in on the limits of prosecutorial power to overturn convictions.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office will argue Tuesday that the circuit court in which Johnson was convicted lacks the authority to grant Johnson a new trial and that court rules prohibit Gardner from seeking a new trial on Johnson’s behalf decades later.
“In sum, no amount of fact-finding by the circuit attorney could grant the circuit court jurisdiction to vacate the judgment in Mr. Johnson’s criminal case 24 years after the fact,” Schmitt’s office said in a recent filing. “That is not to suggest, however, that the circuit attorney had no avenues for fulfilling her legal and ethical obligations if she believed that she had found previously undisclosed exculpatory and impeaching information.”
Johnson was convicted of murdering 25-year-old Marcus Boyd over a $40 drug debt on Louisiana Avenue in the city’s Dutchtown neighborhood. Johnson received a life sentence without parole while another suspect, Phil Campbell, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for a seven-year prison term.
Johnson has long maintained his innocence. Last year, Gardner’s Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed Johnson’s case and in collaboration with the Midwest Innocence Project filed a motion for a new trial on his behalf. Gardner claimed to have uncovered police corruption and misconduct by one of her office’s former prosecutors through secret payments to a witness, falsified police reports and perjured testimony.
The former assistant prosecutor and the former lead homicide detective on Johnson’s case have rejected Gardner’s claims of police and prosecutorial misconduct.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Elizabeth Hogan denied Gardner’s motion, saying that the circuit court has no authority to grant Johnson a new trial because the court’s jurisdiction over Johnson’s case expired shortly after his 1995 sentencing.
Johnson has lost at least three appeals of his conviction.
Arguments before the Missouri Supreme Court are set for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. The public may access streaming audio of the hearing on the Missouri Supreme Court's website."
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The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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