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A MISSOURI was freed in February 2023 after a St. Louis Circuit judge vacated his murder conviction.
After spending approximately 28 years in prison, Lamar Johnson has filed a lawsuit against the city and some police officers.
Who is Lamar Johnson?
Lamar Johnson is a Missouri man who was wrongfully convicted in the 1994 killing of Marcus Boyd in St. Louis.
In 1995, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole but continued to maintain his innocence for decades.
Then, 28 years later, his conviction was overturned by Judge David Mason after two witnesses provided “clear and convincing evidence” that he was innocent, according to BBC.
“This is overwhelming,” Johnson said of the verdict.
In the 1990s, Johnson was a known gang member and drug dealer who had a criminal record, which is what he believes led to his conviction.
During a hearing in December 2022, Mason asked Johnson why someone would accuse him of murder, to which he responded, “Probably my reputation,” according to KSDK.
Later on, he revealed that he and Boyd were friends, adding: “We never had an argument or a fight or anything like that.
“To this day I don’t know why people suspect that I killed him.”
The case against Johnson was built on the testimony of two men, James Gregory Elking and William Mock, which was later proven to be false.
“All Elking witnessed was the assailant’s eye, giving a new meaning to the phrase ‘eye witness,’” Mason said in 2023, via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, adding that it was “yet another serious weakness in the case against Johnson.”
Where is Lamar Johnson now?
As of the time of writing, Lamar Johnson is currently walking free.
After being vindicated and winning his freedom after 28 years in captivity, Lamar has gone on to sue the city of St. Louis and some individual police officers over time in prison.
The federal lawsuit, which was filed by lawyers in January 2024, accused many former St. Louis police officers of fabricating the entire case against him and violating his civil rights.
Lamar will be the topic on CBS’ 48 hours on March 16, 2024.
What happened to Marcus Boyd?
Boyd was shot to death on his front porch by two men wearing ski masks on October 30, 1994, according to PBS.
While Johnson might’ve been convicted of the crime, two men later confessed and said he had nothing to do with it.
During Johnson’s December 2022 hearing, James Howard, who is serving a life sentence for an unrelated murder and other crimes, took the stand and revealed that he and a man named Phil Campbell were the ones who killed Boyd.
“Me and Phillip Campbell killed him on his front porch,” Howard said in court, via KSDK.
Campbell previously pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for a seven-year sentence but he has since passed away.
At the time of the shooting, Johnson was reportedly miles away with his former girlfriend, Erika Barrow, who is the mother of their 28-year-old daughter, Kiera Barrow.
