PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The only witness to the shooting, Gary Elking, told the judge he actually couldn’t identify the shooters from that night but felt pressured by police to identify Lamar Johnson. Elking says he’s felt guilty ever since. “I told them from the get-go, ‘No I never met Marcus’ friend… I didn’t know who the shooters were or even why it happened.’ All I know is I was freaked out. I just witnessed an execution,” Elking testified. Elking says he was under the impression he could be charged with a crime if he didn’t cooperate with police."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Johnson was largely convicted based on that eyewitness testimony identifying him as one of the gunman despite the fact that the killers wore full face masks. It’s just one aspect of the case drawing criticism from Johnson’s legal team and supporters. Lamar Johnson has served 28 years and has always said he’s innocent. His case is back before the courts under a new law that allows Missouri prosecutors to review old convictions and bring them back before a judge. Kevin Strickland, from Kansas City, is the first and only person to be freed under that law. Lamar Johnson could be the second person."
STORY: 'Jaw-dropping testimony in Lamar Johnson hearing includes confession from self-admitted killer," by Reporter Angie Ricono, published by KY3 bon December 12, 2022. (Angie Ricono joined the KCTV5 News team as an investigative reporter in October 2015.
Before that, she worked worked in Philadelphia, PA and Lexington, KY. Angie has won numerous awards for her reporting including a Regional Edward R. Murrow award for investigations. She was also name Associated Press’s Reporter of the Year in New Jersey for her coverage related to the September 11 attacks and the beltway sniper. At KCTV5, Angie looks into closed cases, legal issues and policies and procedures that don’t make sense.)
GIST: "A man named James Howard took the stand Monday afternoon confessing to the 1994 murder of Marcus Boyd. Howard was 17 years old at the time.
Howard explained he was one of two gunmen and gave details about what happened that night. That he and Phil Campbell wore black clothes and ski masks and brought guns to confront Boyd. The plan was to demand money, not murder Boyd.
“Heat of the moment things- shoot, things are tense, and things happen, man. And they happen fast,” Howard said.
Howard told the judge how he hid the gun under a pine tree and went home and washed the black clothing worn that night. He was worried about blood splatter on the clothing. He said he used regular laundry detergent and added a bit of bleach to the water.
He told the court he never thought Lamar Johnson would be convicted of the murder and stayed silent to protect himself.
“I didn’t think they would convict him, because [expletive]- he had nothing to do with it,” Howard said.
Howard is currently serving a life sentence convicted of other unrelated crimes including murder.
Witness recants
The only witness to the shooting, Gary Elking, told the judge he actually couldn’t identify the shooters from that night but felt pressured by police to identify Lamar Johnson.
Elking says he’s felt guilty ever since.
“I told them from the get-go, ‘No I never met Marcus’ friend… I didn’t know who the shooters were or even why it happened.’ All I know is I was freaked out. I just witnessed an execution,” Elking testified.
Elking says he was under the impression he could be charged with a crime if he didn’t cooperate with police.
Johnson was largely convicted based on that eyewitness testimony identifying him as one of the gunman despite the fact that the killers wore full face masks.
It’s just one aspect of the case drawing criticism from Johnson’s legal team and supporters.
Lamar Johnson has served 28 years and has always said he’s innocent.
His case is back before the courts under a new law that allows Missouri prosecutors to review old convictions and bring them back before a judge.
Kevin Strickland, from Kansas City, is the first and only person to be freed under that law. Lamar Johnson could be the second person."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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/
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/
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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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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