© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Gardner Says It’s Her Duty To Ask For New Trial In 1995 Murder Case

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner promised reform when she was sworn in two and a half years ago, but she's faced challenges.
File photo | Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner promised reform when she was sworn in two and a half years ago, but she's faced challenges.

The St. Louis prosecutor is defending her authority to ask for a new trial for a man she says was wrongfully convicted of murder and armed criminal action 24 years ago.

Kim Gardner last month filed a motion for a new trial in the case of Lamar Johnson. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1995 for shooting and killing Marcus Boyd — a conviction that Gardner’s office argued was tainted by police and prosecutorial misconduct.

Lamar Johnson is serving life without parole for a 1994 murder that both prosecutors and defense attorneys say he did not commit.
Credit Missouri Department of Corrections
Lamar Johnson is serving life without parole for a 1994 murder that both prosecutors and defense attorneys say he did not commit.

The Midwest Innocence Project has worked on Johnson’s case since 2010, so the request for a new trial from Gardner’s office marks a rare instance in which prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that a defendant is innocent. But late last month, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Hogan ordered the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to “appear on behalf of the state” in Johnson’s case, essentially taking the place of Gardner. 

Hogan is also asking all of the attorneys to lay out whether Gardner even has the right to ask for a new trial.

“It’s crucial as a minister of justice to correct the wrongs of a wrongfully convicted person, and it’s our duty,” Gardner said at a news conference after a hearing on the matter Thursday. “Under the ethics of a prosecutor, when the evidence shows that an individual is innocent, we must correct the wrong.”

Asked whether her office could be fair in handling a case of prosecutorial misconduct that she uncovered, Gardner said it remained her duty to report misconduct wherever it happened.

“If you’re saying that a prosecutor doesn’t have a duty to do that, then that puts into conflict any law enforcement agency’s ability to investigate wrongdoing in their office,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Eric Schmitt said the office would file the documents Hogan requested, but had no further comment about the case.

Follow Rachel on Twitter: @rlippmann

Send questions and comments about this story to feedback@stlpublicradio.org

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Lippmann returned to her native St. Louis after spending two years covering state government in Lansing, Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and followed (though not directly) in Maria Altman's footsteps in Springfield, also earning her graduate degree in public affairs reporting. She's also done reporting stints in Detroit, Michigan and Austin, Texas. Rachel likes to fill her free time with good books, good friends, good food, and good baseball.
Rachel Lippmann
Lippmann returned to her native St. Louis after spending two years covering state government in Lansing, Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and followed (though not directly) in Maria Altman's footsteps in Springfield, also earning her graduate degree in public affairs reporting. She's also done reporting stints in Detroit, Michigan and Austin, Texas. Rachel likes to fill her free time with good books, good friends, good food, and good baseball.