Missouri Supreme Court: No new trial for Lamar Johnson
3 years, 9 months ago

Missouri Supreme Court: No new trial for Lamar Johnson

Associated Press  

— The effort to free Lamar Johnson, who has spent 26 years behind bars for a murder he says he didn’t commit, hit another roadblock Tuesday when the Missouri Supreme Court refused to grant a new trial. Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office argued successfully that Gardner lacked authority to seek a new trial so many years after the case was adjudicated. Schmitt’s spokesman, Chris Nuelle, said the ruling makes it clear “that the law does not allow the Circuit Attorney’s Office to file a motion for new trial almost 25 years too late. The Circuit Court brought our office in not to comment on innocence or guilt, but to ensure that the rule of law is upheld and the proper procedure is followed, and that’s exactly what we did.” Gardner called the court’s ruling “deeply disappointing.” She said the evidence is clear that Johnson has been in prison for more than 20 years for a crime he didn’t commit. A circuit judge rejected Gardner’s motion for a new trial, and an appeals court ruled in December 2019 that the state Supreme Court should decide the case.

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History of this topic

How Committed Is the Supreme Court to Executing Innocent People?
54 years, 11 months ago

How Committed Is the Supreme Court to Executing Innocent People?

Slate  

Last week, the Supreme Court refused to stop Missouri from executing Marcellus “Khaliifah” Williams despite his strong claims of innocence and objections by the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Next week, the Supreme Court will hear another capital case with strikingly similar facts: Oklahoma may execute Richard Glossip despite a mountain of exculpatory evidence undermining his conviction, and objections …

Missouri executes man for 1998 murder of woman despite calls from victim's family to spare his life
2 months, 4 weeks ago

Missouri executes man for 1998 murder of woman despite calls from victim's family to spare his life

New Indian Express  

"No juror nor judge has ever found Williams' innocence claim to be credible," Parson said in a statement. "Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. Parson and the state Supreme Court rejected his appeals in quick succession Monday, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene hours before he was put to …

Missouri Executes A Man For The 1998 Killing Of A Woman Despite Her Family’s Calls To Spare His Life
2 months, 4 weeks ago

Missouri Executes A Man For The 1998 Killing Of A Woman Despite Her Family’s Calls To Spare His Life

Huff Post  

FILE - This photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Marcellus Williams. Last month, Gayle’s relatives gave their blessings to an agreement between the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office and Williams’ attorneys to commute the sentence to life in prison. Questions about DNA evidence also led St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to request a hearing challenging …

Missouri executes a man for the 1998 killing of a woman despite her family’s calls to spare his life
2 months, 4 weeks ago

Missouri executes a man for the 1998 killing of a woman despite her family’s calls to spare his life

Associated Press  

— A Missouri man convicted of breaking into a woman’s home and repeatedly stabbing her was executed Tuesday over the objections of the victim’s family and the prosecutor, who wanted the death sentence commuted to life in prison. Last month, Gayle’s relatives gave their blessings to an agreement between the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office and Williams’ attorneys to …

Missouri Supreme Court and governor refuse to halt the execution of man convicted of 1998 killing
3 months ago

Missouri Supreme Court and governor refuse to halt the execution of man convicted of 1998 killing

Associated Press  

— A Missouri man seeking to avoid execution suffered dual setbacks Monday as the state’s top court and governor each rejected requests to cancel his scheduled lethal injection. The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, affirmed a lower court ruling rejecting Williams’ arguments. Parson said Williams received extensive legal opportunities to try to argue his innocence and accused Williams’ …

Missouri judge rejects innocence claim of Marcellus Williams who faces execution
3 months, 1 week ago

Missouri judge rejects innocence claim of Marcellus Williams who faces execution

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — A judge declined Thursday to vacate the conviction and death sentence of Marcellus Williams, a Missouri man scheduled for execution later this month in the stabbing death of a woman in 1998, despite questions about DNA evidence on the knife used in the attack. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton presided over an evidentiary hearing last …

Missouri Supreme Court blocks agreement that would have halted execution
4 months ago

Missouri Supreme Court blocks agreement that would have halted execution

Associated Press  

— The Missouri Supreme Court blocked an agreement that would spare the life of a man on death row. The ruling late Wednesday came hours after St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton approved a plan allowing Williams to enter a new no-contest plea to first-degree murder in the 1998 death of Lisha Gayle. Robin Maher, executive director of the …

Missouri death row inmate agrees to new plea in deal that calls for a life sentence without parole
4 months ago

Missouri death row inmate agrees to new plea in deal that calls for a life sentence without parole

Associated Press  

— A Missouri death row inmate on Wednesday dropped his innocence claim and entered a new no-contest plea in an agreement that calls for a revised sentence of life in prison without parole. The complicated turn of events happened on the day that St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hinton was supposed to oversee a hearing requested by Prosecuting Attorney …

Missouri man is free from prison after a judge overturned his 1991 conviction, despite AG’s efforts
4 months, 3 weeks ago

Missouri man is free from prison after a judge overturned his 1991 conviction, despite AG’s efforts

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri man was freed from prison Tuesday after his murder conviction was overturned after 34 years behind bars, despite the state attorney general’s efforts to keep him there. It was torture.” Dunn’s release marks the second time in recent weeks that a person was freed from prison despite Bailey’s appeals to keep them in custody after …

Missouri judges have overturned 2 murder convictions in recent weeks. Why did the AG fight freedom?
4 months, 4 weeks ago

Missouri judges have overturned 2 murder convictions in recent weeks. Why did the AG fight freedom?

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — A man who was on the verge of walking out of prison this week after a judge found evidence of “actual innocence” and overturned his murder conviction now faces a fresh legal hurdle. The person blocking Christopher Dunn’s freedom is Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who is fresh off an unsuccessful battle to keep another woman whose …

Missouri Supreme Court halts release of man with overturned conviction as he was about to go free
4 months, 4 weeks ago

Missouri Supreme Court halts release of man with overturned conviction as he was about to go free

Associated Press  

— The Missouri Supreme Court halted the immediate release Wednesday of a man whose murder conviction was overturned — just as the man was about to walk free. A St. Louis Circuit Court judge had ordered Christopher Dunn, now 52, to be released by 6 p.m. CDT Wednesday and threatened the prison warden with contempt if Dunn remained imprisoned. St. …

Missouri woman who served 43 years in prison is free after murder conviction was overturned
5 months ago

Missouri woman who served 43 years in prison is free after murder conviction was overturned

LA Times  

Sandra Hemme, center, meets with family and other supporters after she was released from prison Friday in Chillicothe, Mo. “I get that a lot.” The judge originally ruled on June 14 that Hemme’s attorneys had established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence” and overturned the conviction. “It shouldn’t be this hard to free an innocent person.” During a court …

Hearing set to determine if a Missouri death row inmate is innocent. His execution is a month later
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Hearing set to determine if a Missouri death row inmate is innocent. His execution is a month later

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri judge on Tuesday set an Aug. 21 date for a hearing to determine if Marcellus Williams is innocent of the murder that landed him on death row — a hearing that comes just a little over a month before Williams is scheduled to die. In this instance, it isn’t certain St. Louis County Circuit Judge …

Missouri woman’s murder conviction tossed after 43 years. Her lawyers say a police officer did it
6 months, 1 week ago

Missouri woman’s murder conviction tossed after 43 years. Her lawyers say a police officer did it

Associated Press  

A judge has overturned the conviction of a Missouri woman who was a psychiatric patient when she incriminated herself in a 1980 killing that her attorneys argue was actually committed by a now-discredited police officer. They alleged in a petition seeking her exoneration that authorities ignored Hemme’s “wildly contradictory” statements and suppressed evidence implicating Michael Holman, a then-police officer who …

‘Justice demands’ new trial for death row inmate, Alabama district attorney says
7 months ago

‘Justice demands’ new trial for death row inmate, Alabama district attorney says

Associated Press  

An Alabama district attorney on Monday asked a judge to order a new trial for a death row inmate, saying that a review found that the 1998 conviction was flawed and “cannot be justified or allowed to stand.” Jefferson County District Attorney Danny Carr filed a brief expressing his support for Toforest Johnson’s bid to receive a new trial. “The …

Missouri Supreme Court declines to halt execution of a man who killed 2 in 2006
9 months ago

Missouri Supreme Court declines to halt execution of a man who killed 2 in 2006

Associated Press  

The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to halt the execution of Brian Dorsey, who is scheduled to die next month for killing his cousin and her husband 18 years ago. Powell also wrote that the state Supreme Court previously turned aside Dorsey’s claim that his trial lawyer was ineffective, and he is barred from raising that claim again. “The …

Missouri prosecutor seeks to vacate murder conviction, the 2nd case challenged in 2 weeks
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Missouri prosecutor seeks to vacate murder conviction, the 2nd case challenged in 2 weeks

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri prosecutor on Wednesday filed a motion to vacate the conviction of a man imprisoned for more than three decades for the shooting death of a 15-year-old boy, the second time in two weeks that a St. Louis-area prosecutor has challenged a longstanding murder conviction. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore said in a news release …

Missouri prosecutor seeks to overturn the conviction of an inmate who has spent decades on death row
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Missouri prosecutor seeks to overturn the conviction of an inmate who has spent decades on death row

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri prosecutor now believes that inmate Marcellus Williams is innocent of the crime that landed him on death row and very nearly cost him his life, and he is seeking to overturn Williams’ conviction. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a court motion Friday to vacate the conviction of Williams, 55, who narrowly escaped …

Missouri man who spent nearly 28 years in prison on a wrongful conviction sues St. Louis, police
11 months ago

Missouri man who spent nearly 28 years in prison on a wrongful conviction sues St. Louis, police

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri man who spent nearly 28 years in prison until a judge determined he was wrongfully convicted filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, alleging that St. Louis police officers “detained, arrested, and framed him for a murder he did not commit.” Lamar Johnson, 50, seeks unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in St. …

Missouri woman imprisoned for 42 years to get court hearing that could lead to release
1 year, 6 months ago

Missouri woman imprisoned for 42 years to get court hearing that could lead to release

Associated Press  

— A Missouri woman who has spent more than four decades in prison for a murder her supporters believe she did not commit will get a court hearing that could lead to her release. The Missouri attorney general’s office has agreed to an evidentiary hearing for Sandra Hemme, 63, who was convicted of murder in the Nov. 12, 1980, killing …

St. Louis prosecutor seeks to free man imprisoned 33 years for murder, citing evidence of innocence
1 year, 7 months ago

St. Louis prosecutor seeks to free man imprisoned 33 years for murder, citing evidence of innocence

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis’ top prosecutor has asked a court to set aside the conviction of a man who has spent 33 years in prison for a killing he says he didn’t commit, after witnesses who testified against him later said authorities had pressured them to lie. In her request to overturn Christopher Dunn’s first-degree murder conviction, St. Louis …

Judge: No contempt of court for St. Louis prosecutor
1 year, 7 months ago

Judge: No contempt of court for St. Louis prosecutor

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — The city’s elected prosecutor was not in contempt of court as a result of her office’s failure to have a prosecutor present when a murder trial was due to begin, a St. Louis judge ruled Monday. Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s office let “fall through the cracks” the fact that the prosecutor for the case, Alex Polta, was …

Wrongfully convicted man, now free after 28 years: ‘I was finally heard’
1 year, 10 months ago

Wrongfully convicted man, now free after 28 years: ‘I was finally heard’

LA Times  

Lamar Johnson, center, and his attorneys react Feb. 14 after St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason vacated his murder conviction. “I can’t say I knew it would happen, but I would never give up fighting for what I knew to be the right thing, that freedom was wrongfully taken from me,” Johnson said. I wrote everybody.” He said he was …

Judge vacates conviction of man imprisoned nearly 3 decades
1 year, 10 months ago

Judge vacates conviction of man imprisoned nearly 3 decades

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — A Missouri judge on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a man who has served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a killing that he has always said he didn’t commit. “Our office defended the rule of law and worked to uphold the original verdict that a jury of Johnson’s peers deemed to be appropriate based …

Alabama Supreme Court denies new trial for death row inmate
2 years ago

Alabama Supreme Court denies new trial for death row inmate

Associated Press  

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday denied a new trial for a death row inmate in a case that has seen the district attorney, former state attorney general and a former chief justice join calls to reexamine his conviction. Johnson’s lawyers had argued he was due a new trial because the state failed to disclose a key …

Missouri man seeks exoneration in murder; 2 others confessed
2 years ago

Missouri man seeks exoneration in murder; 2 others confessed

Associated Press  

ST. LOUIS — Lamar Johnson has wrongly spent nearly three decades in prison for a St. Louis killing after a witness was coerced into falsely identifying him as the shooter, an attorney for the local prosecutor’s office told a judge Monday. Kim Gardner, who leads the same St. Louis circuit attorney’s office that secured Johnson’s 1995 murder conviction, believes he …

Judge denies Missouri prosecutor request to halt execution
2 years, 1 month ago

Judge denies Missouri prosecutor request to halt execution

Associated Press  

— A Missouri man who killed a police officer still faces execution later this month after a judge denied a special prosecutor’s request to halt the death sentence. McEntee and the law enforcement community.” Keenan’s court filing said former St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch’s office handled five cases involving the deaths of police officers during his 28 years in …

Condemned Missouri man asks Supreme Court to intervene
2 years, 1 month ago

Condemned Missouri man asks Supreme Court to intervene

Associated Press  

A Missouri man sentenced to death for killing a police officer in a fit of rage over his brother’s death is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution planned for later this month, in part because the man was a teenager at the time of the killing. Johnson saw officers arrive and awoke his 12-year-old brother, Joseph “Bam …

St. Louis prosecutor again seeks to clear convicted killer
2 years, 3 months ago

St. Louis prosecutor again seeks to clear convicted killer

Associated Press  

St. Louis’ top prosecutor on Wednesday filed a motion asking a judge to vacate the conviction that sent a man to prison nearly 30 years ago for a murder he has long claimed he didn’t commit. Johnson’s claims of innocence and other new evidence in recent years convinced St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner that he was wrongfully convicted. In …

Missouri Supreme Court reprimands St. Louis prosecutor
2 years, 3 months ago

Missouri Supreme Court reprimands St. Louis prosecutor

Associated Press  

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday reprimanded St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner for mistakes made in the 2018 prosecution of then-Gov. The agreement, stating that Gardner’s conduct “was negligent or perhaps reckless, but not intentional,” called for a written reprimand, but it was ultimately up to the Missouri Supreme Court to issue a ruling. “I’m pleased that our state’s …

Execution date set for Missouri man who shot police officer
2 years, 3 months ago

Execution date set for Missouri man who shot police officer

Associated Press  

The Missouri Supreme Court has set a Nov. 29 execution date for a man who shot and killed a suburban St. Louis police sergeant in 2005. The execution date comes despite opposition from the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, which wants a special prosecutor to investigate whether Johnson’s conviction and death sentence resulted from racial bias. Then-St. Louis County …

EXPLAINER: The Missouri law that led to Strickland decision
3 years, 1 month ago

EXPLAINER: The Missouri law that led to Strickland decision

Associated Press  

— A judge’s decision on Tuesday to release longtime inmate Kevin Strickland, of Kansas City, was made possible by a new Missouri law intended to free people who were imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. After the Missouri Supreme Court in June declined to hear Strickland’s petition for release, Peters Baker used the new state law to seek an evidentiary …

Ernest Johnson: Missouri executes man after US Supreme Court denies request for a delay
3 years, 2 months ago

Ernest Johnson: Missouri executes man after US Supreme Court denies request for a delay

CNN  

Washington CNN — Missouri executed death row inmate Ernest Johnson on Tuesday after the US Supreme Court rejected a petition earlier in the day that had sought to delay it, citing an intellectual disability. But the Supreme Court’s denial mirrored the Missouri Supreme Court’s May opinion declining to stop his execution. Johnson’s claim that he is not competent to be …

Court rejects Missouri AG’s requests in 1979 killings case
3 years, 3 months ago

Court rejects Missouri AG’s requests in 1979 killings case

Associated Press  

— A Missouri appeals court on Thursday denied the state attorney general’s request to recuse all Jackson County judges from presiding over an upcoming evidentiary hearing for a man who the county prosecutor says was wrongfully convicted in a triple murder more than 40 years ago. The Missouri Court of Appeals also denied Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s request to cancel …

Missouri prosecutor files motion to free longtime inmate
3 years, 3 months ago

Missouri prosecutor files motion to free longtime inmate

Associated Press  

— A Missouri prosecutor has filed a motion asking a judge to exonerate a man who has been imprisoned for four decades for a triple murder that she and many others do not believe he committed. But she retracted her statement before she died in 2015, sending an email to the Midwest Innocence Project in 2009 that said: “I am …

Supreme Court rules against inmate in death penalty case
3 years, 5 months ago

Supreme Court rules against inmate in death penalty case

Associated Press  

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against an Alabama inmate whose lawyers argued that his trial counsel should have done more to try to show he is intellectually disabled and therefore he should be spared a death sentence. Circuit Court of Appeals finding and said that a state court had correctly rejected claims that Matthew Reeves had …

Missouri court denies case of man prosecutor deems innocent
3 years, 6 months ago

Missouri court denies case of man prosecutor deems innocent

Associated Press  

— A Missouri prosecutor on Wednesday said she’s disappointed the state Supreme Court won’t hear the case of a Kansas City man imprisoned for more than 40 years for a triple murder that prosecutors say he didn’t commit. Missouri Supreme Court judges on Tuesday denied 61-year-old Kevin Strickland’s case without providing an explanation. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker in …

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