Court Exonerates Lamar Johnson’s Murder Conviction After He Served 28 Years In Prison

He says that “though there has been a lot of setbacks and disappointments, in the end, there’s still a lot to be joyful about.”

February 22, 2023
Lamar Johnson, pictured at a law office in Clayton, Mo., on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023, is now free after spending nearly 28 years in prison for the death of a St. Louis man.

During a hearing filled with tears and cheers of joy, a Missouri judge vacated the murder conviction of Lamar Johnson, who spent 28 years behind bars, ruling the evidence of his innocence was both “clear and convincing.”

Photo by: Jim Salter via AP

Jim Salter via AP

By: Aaron Rasmussen

During a hearing filled with tears and cheers of joy, a Missouri judge vacated the murder conviction of a man who spent 28 years behind bars, ruling the evidence of his innocence was both “clear and convincing.”

On Feb. 14, 2023, 22nd Circuit Court Judge David Mason announced the decision to exonerate Lamar Johnson, 50, in connection with the murder of 25-year-old Marcus Boyd.

“These cases are not easy, and they shouldn’t be,” Mason said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

On Oct. 30, 1994, Boyd was reportedly shot to death in St. Louis over what prosecutors said was a $40 drug debt.

The following year, Johnson went on trial for Boyd’s slaying. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Following his conviction, Johnson unsuccessfully fought for decades to prove his innocence, filing appeals and habeas corpus petitions.

In 2019, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s Conviction Integrity Unit helped shine light on the case after she released a report that stated Johnson had nothing to do with Boyd’s killing and an investigation uncovered both “serious prosecutorial misconduct” as well as unconstitutional police practices in the decades-old case, the Kansas City Star reported.

Two years later, in 2021, she was able to petition for Johnson’s release thanks to a brand-new state law that “allows prosecutors to petition a court to exonerate prisoners they deemed wrongly convicted,” the Kansas City Star reported.

At Johnson’s December 2022 hearing, Greg Elking, the star witness for the prosecution who identified Johnson as the ski-masked shooter who shot Boyd nearly 30 years earlier, recanted his testimony, claiming he only fingered Johnson because detectives allegedly told him he was guilty, according to PBS Newshour.

Judge Mason noted Elking’s original identification of Johnson as the shooter was “suspect at best” since Elking only glimpsed the assailant’s eye, “giving a new meaning to the phrase ‘eye witness,’” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Johnson said in an interview with PBS Newshour that Elking had also “identified somebody else in the lineup” and “had never verified an identification of me until he was at the police station.”

Two people also confessed they committed the crime and said Johnson had nothing to do with it.

According to Gardner’s office, Johnson’s codefendant in his original case, Phillip Campbell, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in the case and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He later died.

A second man, James Howard, took the stand at Johnson’s December hearing and testified he and Campbell were responsible for Boyd’s murder. Howard, who is currently serving time for a 1997 murder, said he wanted to make amends for what he did, the Kansas City Star reported. “I didn’t think they would convict him because, s**t, he didn’t have nothing to do with it,” Howard said in court.

Under oath, according to PBS Newshour, the prosecutor and the police officer who headed the murder investigation in 1994 said there was no physical evidence tying Johnson to the crime.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office does not plan to challenge the judge’s decision to exonerate Johnson.

“The court has spoken, and no further action will be taken in this case,” the A.G.’s office said in a statement.

Kiera Barrow, 28, said her father’s release comes just in time for her April wedding and they have already started making a list of things they will do together, like skydiving.

“He really wants to go skydiving,” Barrow said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It wasn’t on my list, but if that’s what he wants to do, then we’re doing it.”

Due to technicalities of Missouri law, Johnson is not entitled to restitution for the time he spent behind bars, but a GoFundMe campaign launched by the Midwest Innocence Project has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help him reenter society and try to move forward with his life.

Johnson told PBS that “though there has been a lot of setbacks and disappointments, in the end, there’s still a lot to be joyful about.”

He added: “And so I hang on to that.”

Next Up

A Small Tennessee Town Was Rocked by A Friendly-Fire Shooting Thanksgiving Weekend in 2003

A Thanksgiving Weekend drug bust left a Scott County, Tennessee, sheriff’s deputy dead and his family with questions about the bullet that took his life.

5 Things To Know About Fetty Wap's Legal Troubles

The rapper was arrested on Aug. 8, 2022 for allegedly making a threat and wielding a gun on a FaceTime call in 2021. His lawyer argues he was provoked.

Suspected Hospital Serial Killer Charged With Second Murder Two Decades After Deaths

After two decades, suspected medical serial killer Jennifer Anne Hall has been arrested and charged with murder for two deaths that occurred during her short time at the Hedrick Medical Center in Missouri.

Podcast Helps Free Two Innocent Men Convicted Of Teenager’s 1996 Shooting Death

“You never think something like that is going to happen to you,” Darrell Lee Clark says of how he and Cain Joshua Storey were forced to spend 25 years behind bars.

5 Things To Know About The Murder Of Grammy Award Winner Nipsey Hussle

Nipsey Hussle was allegedly murdered outside of his clothing store, in south LA, by Eric Holder.

DNA Helped Solve Cold Case Murder Of Woman Found Wrapped In Carpet On The Side Of The Road

The body of Lina Reyes Geddes, 37, was found along a highway near Maidenwater Spring in Utah’s Garfield County on April 20, 1998. Her murder remained unsolved until June 2022.

Suspect Arrested In Connection With 1987 Cold Case Murder Of Missouri Woman

Police say solving the cold case is a “shining example of the importance of never giving up” and “pursuing justice relentlessly.”

Murder Or Self-Defense? Questions Surround Man’s Shooting Death During Trip To Remote Cabin

Peter Bernardo Spencer’s family says his death was a “modern-day lynching,” but prosecutors have declined to bring charges against the shooter.

Drug Addiction, ‘Fishy’ Behavior & Surprise Snapchat Video: 5 Key Murdaugh Murder Trial Revelations

The disgraced South Carolina attorney’s six-week jury trial ended with a guilty verdict and life sentence.

True Crime News Roundup: Brittney Griner Transferred To Russian Penal Colony

Plus: Colorado police launch new probe into JonBenet Ramsey case; Woman sentenced to life for murdering woman to steal her baby; California megachurch leader accused of torturing young daughter; and Texas medical examiner murdered at work by her estranged husband.