A Springfield defense attorney has been charged with paying a witness to lie on the stand in a murder case.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that 38-year-old Adam Woody was charged Friday with perjury and two counts of tampering with a witness during the 2016 retrial of Michael Amick. The retrial ended with Amick being acquitted in the 2008 killing of his wife's grandmother, Leona "Maxine" Vaughn.
At issue is prisoner's testimony during a pretrial hearing that a fellow prisoner had confessed to the killing. Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers are now saying the prisoner was paid $1,000. The prisoner didn't testify during the trial.
Woody's attorney, Thomas Carver, says Woody is adamant that he is innocent. Carver says the state's case is built on the word of convicted felons.
