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After 29 Years in Missouri Prison, Lamar Johnson Is Finally Free | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

Published

2 years ago

February 14, 2023

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click to enlarge St. Louis Post-Dispatch The courtroom erupted in applause when Lamar Johnson (center) found out his conviction was overturned.
After 29 years in prison, Lamar Johnson is a free man.Johnson, 49, has been in prison for almost three decades after being found guilty of murdering Marcus Boyd in 1995. His story has repeatedly made national headlines and is often cited by advocates for reform in Missouri’s handling of post-conviction claims of innocence.Judge David Mason threw out the 1995 verdict today, saying he had to balance the validity of the original trial with subsequent evidence for innocence. Mason said that in making his ruling, he exhaustively reviewed the original trial’s transcript and all subsequent evidence. “I spent quite a bit of time on this. These cases are not easy,” Mason said. “They should not be cavalierly ruled upon.”In his opinion he wrote “this court finds that there is clear and convincing evidence of Lamar Johnson’s actual innocence.”When Mason announced his ruling, Johnson wiped away tears as the courtroom erupted in applause.Mason’s decision represents a win for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s Conviction Integrity Unit, established in 2018 to review cases her own office had previously prosecuted under different leadership. Johnson’s case was the first exoneration case brought by the unit in 2019, and it has been slowly working its way through the courts ever since. En route to today’s decision, the case was forced to make a lengthy detour to the state Supreme Court, where justices ruled that the state legislature would have to pass a new law allowing prosecutors to correct their office’s own wrongful convictions. The legislature did so in 2021.In December of last year, special prosecutors working with Gardner’s office argued that two other men killed Boyd in 1994 and that Johnson’s guilty verdict was based on testimony from a witness who was coerced into identifying Johnson as Boyd’s killer. In court on December 12, James Howard testified that he and a man named Phillip Campbell killed Boyd and that Johnson was nowhere near the scene of the crime. Howard told the judge that, “I didn’t think they would convict him … he had nothing to do with it.”In addition to Gardner’s Conviction Integrity Unit, similar units have been established by St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell and Jean Peters Baker, the prosecutor for Jackson County, which includes Kansas City. But just because these units were established doesn’t mean that innocent incarcerated people immediately walk free. Post-conviction relief is a notoriously difficult area of law due in part to the fact that, legally speaking, a convicted individual’s claim of innocence is in itself not adequate grounds upon which to bring an appeal. When Howard testified that Johnson was innocent in December, that was hardly the first time he’d spoken up about the wrongful conviction. He signed numerous affidavits, the first in 2002, saying virtually the same things he said on the stand in December. Campbell, who is now deceased, wrote Johnson a letter saying as much before Johnson was even sentenced. Adding to the legal difficulties of people like Johnson is that many state attorneys general have attempted to block avenues through which wrongfully convicted individuals could have their claims of innocence adjudicated. State attorneys general often take this stance for fear of eroding the power of a jury’s verdict, leading to a situation which, according to one Arkansas assistant attorney general, would harm the “criminal justice system’s interest in finality” and force prosecutors to “re-establish guilt” again and again.Post-Dispatch columnist Tony Messenger pointed out in a column earlier this month that that office has always opposed post-conviction innocence cases, no matter if it was run by a Republican or Democrat.”The office has consistently opposed freedom for people in Missouri prisons even when the evidence of innocence is overwhelming,” Messenger wrote. In the Johnson case, lawyers for the Circuit Attorney’s Office wrote in court filings, “Over the past decade, in every instance where an innocent person was freed from custody, the AGO objected to a merits hearing and opposed relief.”Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

8 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

8 months ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

8 months ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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