The effort to free Lamar Johnson, who has spent 26 years behind bars for a murder he says he didn’t commit, has hit another roadblock after the Missouri Supreme Court refused to grant a new trial.
The ruling was issued Tuesday. Johnson was convicted in a 1994 killing. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has said she is duty bound to correct past wrongs, including what she believes was the wrongful conviction of Johnson.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office argued successfully that Gardner lacks the authority to seek a new trial so many years after the case was adjudicated.
