United States The tears of Lamar Johnson after being released after spending almost 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit

A Missouri judge on Tuesday vacated the conviction of a man who has served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a murder he has always said he did not commit

United States The tears of Lamar Johnson after being released after spending almost 30 years in prison for a murder he did not commit

A Missouri judge on Tuesday vacated the conviction of a man who has served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a murder he has always said he did not commit. Lamar Johnson, 50, closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as a woman from his legal team patted him on the back as Circuit Judge David Mason handed down her ruling.

Before announcing his decision, Mason said that, in weighing the case, there had to be "reliable evidence of actual innocence, evidence so reliable that it actually exceeds the standard of clear and convincing."

It was last August that District Attorney Kim Gardner filed an appeal seeking Johnson's release, prompting a December hearing before Mason. "Today the courts are righting an error by quashing the sentence of Mr. Lamar Johnson, after his wrongful conviction in 1995," Gardner said in a statement after Tuesday's hearing. "Most importantly, we celebrate with Mr. Johnson and his family his walking out of the room a free man," adds Gardner, "delighted that Mr. Johnson has the opportunity to be the man and member of the community you want.

The Missouri attorney general's office argued at the December hearing that Johnson should remain in prison. The police and the prosecutor's office attributed the murder to a dispute over drug money. From the beginning, Johnson maintained his innocence, saying that he was with his girlfriend miles away when the crime took place.

Gardner said his team had conducted an investigation that found Johnson was telling the truth.

Boyd was shot to death on his front porch by two men wearing ski masks on October 30, 1994. Johnson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but a second suspect, Phil Campbell, pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for a sentence of seven years in prison.

Johnson testified at the December hearing that he was with his girlfriend the night of the crime, except for a few minutes when he left a friend's house to sell drugs on a corner several blocks from where the victim was killed.

Johnson's girlfriend at the time, Erika Barrow, testified that she was with Johnson all night, except for about five minutes when he went out to sell drugs. She said the distance between the friend's house and Boyd's house would have made it impossible for Johnson to get there and back in five minutes.

Key to Johnson's release was the statement of a witness who retracted his testimony and a prisoner who says that it was he - and not Johnson - who participated with Campbell in the murder.

James Howard, 46, is serving a life sentence for murder and other crimes carried out three years after Boyd was killed. Howard testified at trial that he and Campbell decided to rob Boyd, who owed money to one of his friends from drug sales.

Howard stated that he shot Boyd in the back of the head and neck, and that Campbell shot Boyd in the side. "Was Lamar Johnson there?" asked Jonathan Potts, Johnson's attorney. "No," Howard replied.

Howard and Campbell signed affidavits years ago admitting to the crime and stating that Johnson was not involved. Another man named James Gregory Elking testified in December that he was on the porch with Boyd, trying to buy crack, when the two men, wearing black ski masks, surrounded the house and began the attack.

Elking, who later spent several years in prison for bank robbery, initially told police he could not identify the gunmen, but agreed to a lineup anyway.

Elking testified that when he could not identify anyone in the lineup, Detective Joseph Nickerson told him, "I know you know who it is," and urged him to "help get these guys off the street."

Elking said he felt "intimidated" and "pressured", naming Johnson as one of the shooters. According to Gardner's office, Elking also received at least $4,000 after agreeing to testify: "It's been tormenting me," he said of his role in sending Johnson to jail.

Nickerson denied coercing Elking. He testified in December that Elking's identification of Johnson was based on all he could see of the shooter's face: his eyes.

Johnson has one eye different from the other, Nickerson said. "Dwight Warren, who prosecuted Johnson in 1995, said that apart from Elking's testimony, the main piece of evidence against Johnson was a conversation overheard in a jail cell. A jailhouse informant, William Mock, then told investigators that he overheard Campbell and Johnson talking when one of them said, "We should have shot that white boy," apparently referring to Elking.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project