We interrupt this program
for A5 on your side. Special report.
Good afternoon. I'm Kay Quinn.
In just a moment, we're going to find
out if Circuit Court Judge David
Mason thinks Lamar Johnson's murder
conviction should be overturned.
You might recall almost
two months ago to the day,
lawyers from the Saint Louis
Circuit Attorney's Office and the
Missouri Attorney General's office
gathered in Judge Mason's courtroom.
In a hearing that played out
over the course of a week,
the circuit Attorney's office made
the case for why a jury wrongfully
convicted Johnson and the Attorney
General's office argued Johnson.
Should remain in prison for the
1994 murder of Marcus Boyd.
Let's bring you up to speed now on who
Lamar Johnson is and why he's in prison.
To do that,
we go to five on your sides.
Justina Coronell at the Carnahan
courthouse in downtown Saint Louis.
OK, so it's been quite
the journey to get here.
Now, this stems from a crime
that happened in 1994.
That's when Marcus Boyd was
shot and killed in Saint Louis.
And the following year,
Johnson was convicted of the crime.
Since then, Johnson has
been claiming his innocence.
In that time frame,
two other men have confessed to Boyd's
killing and said Johnson was not involved.
Now this case has garnered much attention,
even creating a new Missouri law in 2021
making it easier for prosecutors to
get new hearings in cases like Johnsons.
That's when Saint Louis Circuit
Attorney Kim Gardner filed a motion to
vacate his conviction last year and
this December and a five day hearing,
Johnson testified before Judge David Mason,
saying he was innocent.
Now it's taken the judge nearly
60 days to make a decision and
that's one that we're waiting for.
OK, let's send it back to you in studio.
All right. Thank you, Justina.
Judge Mason could make one of three
decisions in just a few minutes.
One overturned Johnson's
conviction and fined him.
Actually innocent.
It's a legal term,
meaning new evidence presented
by the circuit Attorney's office
proves Johnson was not the man who
murdered Marcus Boyd and should be
released #2 overturned Johnson's
conviction on a constitutional error.
If this happens, Mason could cite any
number of constitutional challenges.
The circuit attorney's office.
Read about how the suspect
lineup was conducted.
Among other things,
this would reverse Johnson's
conviction on an error.
It wouldn't mean Judge Mason
found Johnson to be innocent,
but rather that he was wrongfully convicted
on at least one constitutional violation.
The third option is Judge Mason could simply
uphold the jury's original 1995 conviction,
and Johnson would remain in
prison in Jefferson City,
where he's been for the past 28 years.
Let's go inside the courtroom
now as Judge David Mason.
Decides if Lamar Johnson's
conviction will be overturned.
All right.
Ordinary. Provision 17 hour
session pursuant to the government.
Double check to see Mason
is society. Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Baylor.
You may all be seated.
What I'm going to call the
matter of Circuit attorney 22nd
Judicial Circuit of Missouri.
Extra Lamar Johnson.
Ohh just calls 28222, Dash
C 09375. Let the record reflect that
Council for both the movement and
relative are present before this court.
Likewise relative Lamar
Johnson is present before the court. Also
appearing pursuant to statute is a Council
for the Office of the Attorney General.
I have already prepared by
findings of fact and conclusions
of law in this case.
Runs, as you can see,
quite a few pages.
Indicative of I don't know
is that thing over there
with all the files in it.
Yeah. That. Constitutes
all the stuff that I had in
my dining room since December.
I can tell you it was.
That makes family happy.
Today is the 14th.
Correct? Alright.
I don't think there are any food
stains on the file,
so try very hard to be careful.
OK, I have just executed my
order and my clerk is
going to put it in case
that as we speak. Now. Just to let you know,
ohh, I need that. I'm gonna
have to read the last page.
I just realized that.
Just to let you know how I
went about this, the statute,
as you all know, doesn't give.
The greatest deal
of guidance as to how
to proceed. However, it does seem to
let the court know that an important aspect
of what we do and how many of these cases is
we have to look at the underlying trial
and just how solid that trial was.
And then compare that to the subsequent
evidence that might suggest actual innocence.
Sometimes a good solid trial might
be hard to throw out even in the
face of might be pretty good.
Absolutely absolute innocence evidence.
You have to really balance the two.
You want to take a close look at the
procedures that were followed in the jury
trial. You want to ask
yourself as a judge, were
the due process rights of the
defendant adequately protect protected
through the course of the jury trial?
And if they weren't?
Protected were there constitutional
violations of the kind in nature that
would cause the court to doubt or
question the validity or lose confidence
of the actual legitimacy of the verdict?
Now that's a very interesting and I'll
acknowledge someone and Vicky was standard.
It's one of those standards.
We judges know what it is,
but it might be hard to explain.
Then we're supposed to take a look
at what comes up in our hearing.
Are we seeing not just evidence
of actual innocence,
it has to be reliable evidence
of actual innocence.
Evidence that so reliable.
That it actually passes the
standard of clear and convincing.
Particularly when you compare
the new evidence as it gets the
quality of the underlying trial.
Once you put those two together,
you can come up with an answer as to whether
or not a conviction ought to be overturned.
As you know, I spent all of you know,
I spent quite a bit of time on this.
Of.
And these cases are not easy,
and they shouldn't be.
They should not be cavalierly ruled upon.
Some people say why don't you grow
from the bench and said you you can't
treat a case like this that way.
Well, aren't you make one ruling
and write an opinion later, say,
well it be perfectly frank with you.
Until I have plowed through the file,
I really couldn't be 100% certain
of what might decision would be.
So whatever impressions I had
at the end of the hearing,
those impressions really were not
the impressions that I could go on.
I had to go on digging into the case.
Looking at and actually reading the
entirety of the child transcript.
Making judgments as to the quality,
reliability,
confidence that can be derived
from the trial transcript.
Looking at the people who
testified at the hearing,
looking at the cross examinations
that were done by both sides,
seeing if in fact even my own,
quite frankly very strong
questioning of the witnesses.
To see if there was any shaking in the
reliability of what the witnesses had to say.
Inconsistencies, things did not fit.
With the subjective fact,
the objective facts in the case.
Were there consistencies
from the day moving forward?
Those things make a big difference.
Because in these cases,
you're going to tell somebody,
look, you gotta stay in.
Or you're going to tell somebody
you're going to get out.
And obviously,
the way in which courts handle
these cases are of concern to
the Attorney General's office.
Concern to families of when you
have victims involved of victims.
Of concern also to not only the
individual regulator involved,
but all those who are concerned
about how these cases are processed
and how they carried out.
I urge each and every last one of you
to take your time in reading the opinion.
Bailiff, could you put on the Council Table
2 copies of my final opinion, please?
After reviewing both the underlying trial
as well as the entirety of the hearing.
And you can read all the analysis,
but for the reasons stated above,
it should be ordered that the motion
of the circuit attorney of the 22nd
Judicial Circuit filed herein for the
benefit of Lamar Johnson is granted.
The conviction of Lamar Johnson and state
Villamar Johnson calls twenty
294137068 is hereby set aside
and held for not bailiff.
This hearing is adjourned. Alright.
This has been a 5 on
your side special report.
We now join regularly scheduled
programming in progress.