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Tag: Missouri

  • Innocent man exonerated after serving nearly 28 years behind bars

    Innocent man exonerated after serving nearly 28 years behind bars

    A murder conviction in Missouri was reversed by a judge despite the fact that the defendant had maintained his innocence throughout the whole case and had already served over 28 years in prison.

    In a statement shared Tuesday, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner reflected on the long journey to freedom for 50-year-old Lamar Johnson, who was previously convicted in connection with the fatal 1994 shooting of Marcus Boyd.

    “Today the courts righted a wrong—vacating the sentence of Mr. Lamar Johnson following his wrongful conviction in 1995,” Gardner said. “Most importantly, we celebrated with Mr. Johnson and his family as he walks out of the courtroom as a free man.”

    According to Gardner, this outcome shows that “a person’s right to justice and liberty is valued more than the finality of an unjust conviction.” 

    Elsewhere, Gardner thanked Johnson’s attorneys, as well as the team at the not-for-profit Midwest Innocence Project (MIP) organization. The latter is part of the nationwide Innocence Network and is focused on securing freedom for those wrongfully convicted of crimes in Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.

    Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder in 1995 and later sentenced to life without parole. Per MIP, initial calls for a new trial were informed by a slew of problems with the case, including confessions to the murder from two other men and instances of police “lying and hiding exculpatory evidence.”

    As the Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner law firm noted in a news release on Tuesday, Johnson’s overturned conviction is historic for the region. Attorneys Charles Weiss and Jonathan Potts, both appointed by Gardner, won what now stands as the first wrongful conviction case brought by a local prosecutor in St. Louis city history.

    “Lamar’s case is fraught with the kind of mistakes we see too frequently by the police and prosecution, including pressuring eye witnesses to identify the perpetrator, even though such eye witness identification is highly questionable and improbable, paying witnesses to testify under the guise of witness protection and then failing to disclose such payments to the defense and presenting unreliable jail house informant’s testimony,” Weiss said of the victory. “On the other hand, Lamar’s case is also an example of how our system can correct such mistakes and free an innocent person.”

    Following Tuesday’s ruling, Johnson is now a free man.

    Complex has reached out to his attorneys for additional comment. This story may be updated.

    Source: Complex.com

  • Missouri House faces backlash after tightening dress code for Women Lawmakers

    Missouri House faces backlash after tightening dress code for Women Lawmakers

    Missouri lawmakers began the 2023 session on a controversial note: debating what women could and couldn’t wear on the House floor.

    The GOP-controlled House faced backlash this week after adopting a stricter dress code for female legislators. The changes, which are part of a new rules package, were widely criticized as sexist, with many pointing out that the dress code for men was not updated.

    According to CNN, the original dress code required male lawmakers to always wear a jacket, shirt, and tie while in the House chambers; women were previously required to wear “dresses or skirts or slacks worn with a blazer or sweater” along with “appropriate dress shoes or boots.” However, Republican state Rep. Ann Kelley sought to tighten the dress code specifically for women, and proposed an amendment that would require them to wear jackets on the floor.

    “Men are required to wear a jacket, a shirt and a tie, correct?” she said during Wednesday’s debate. “And if they walked in here without a tie, they would get gaveled down in a heartbeat. If they walked in without a jacket, they would get gaveled down in a heartbeat. So, we are so interested in being equal.”

    Several lawmakers pushed back on the jacket proposal, saying it could cause problems for lawmakers who become pregnant and must spend money on either buying new garments or alterations. Republicans ultimately agreed that women lawmakers must cover their shoulders with either a jacket, knit blazer, or a cardigan.

    The amendment passed in a 105-51 vote. 

    “We are fighting—again—on a woman’s right to choose something and this time is how she covers herself,” Rep. Raychel Proudie (D) said, as reported by the Heartland Signal. “Do you know what it feels like to have a bunch of men in this room looking at your top trying to decide whether it’s appropriate or not?” 

    Democratic state Rep. Peter Merideth, who refused to vote on the amendment, made similar comments, and suggested the vote further highlighted the GOP’s hypocrisy.

    “I don’t think I’m qualified to say what’s appropriate or not appropriate for women and I think that is a really dangerous road for us all to go down,” he said during the debate. “Y’all had a conniption fit the last two years when we talked about maybe, maybe wearing masks in a pandemic to keep each other safer. How dare the government tell you what you have to wear over your face? Well, I know some governments require women to wear things over their face, but here, oh, it’s OK because we’re just talking about how many layers they have to have over their shoulders.”

    According to local outlets, women make up one-third of the Missouri’s legislature. The House currently has 116 men and 43 women.

    Source: Complex.com

  • Missouri judge denies request from 19-year-old to witness her father’s execution

    A man is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Missouri on Tuesday without his daughter present due to her age, NBC News reported.

    Kevin Johnson was sentenced to death for the 2005 killing of a Kirkwood, MO police officer. Johnson was 19 at the time he committed the crime, the same age his daughter, Khorry Ramey, is now.

    “I’m heartbroken that I won’t be able to be with my dad in his last moments,” Ramey told NBC News. She said that her father “has worked very hard to rehabilitate himself in prison. I pray that [Gov. Mike] Parson will give my dad clemency.”

    Missouri law prevents individuals under the age of 21 from attending executions. And, on behalf the Ramey, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit urging the state to allow Ramey to attend her father’s execution.

    The plaintiffs argue that prohibiting Ramey from attending the execution is unconstitutional and “illustrates the irrationality” of sentencing, someone, to death prior to their 21st birthday but preventing those under 21 from attending executions.

    “I am my dad’s closest living relative and he is mine, other than my baby son,” Ramey told the outlet. “If my dad were dying in the hospital, I would stick by his side and hold his hand, praying until his death.”

    But the judge argued that the plaintiffs did not prove the law was unconstitutional, therefore blocking Ramey from attending the execution of her last living parent.

    “It’s ironic that Kevin was 19 years old when he committed this crime and they still want to move forward with this execution, but they won’t allow his daughter who’s 19 at this time in because she’s too young,” Johnsons’ lawyer, Shawn Nolan, told reporters Friday.

    The Missouri Attorney General’s Office argues that the execution should proceed because “the surviving victims of Johnson’s crimes have waited long enough for justice,” according to NBC News.

    Johnson’s execution is set to occur on Tuesday. But because a special prosecutor is arguing that there was “unconstitutional racial discrimination” in Johnson’s conviction, a hearing is scheduled for Monday that could possibly prevent the execution.

    An attorney for Ramey, an attorney for Johnson, the Missouri Attorney General, and a Missouri special prosecutor did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

    Source: Insider.com