Lamar Johnson, who has been serving a life sentence in jail for nearly three decades, was set free on Tuesday, February 14, after a judge overturned his conviction.
The 50-year-old Missouri native spent nearly three decades in prison after he was wrongly convicted of his friend Marcus Boyd’s murder charges.
According to CNN, “Lamar Johnson was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 1995 after being convicted of murder in the death of Markus Boyd the year prior. At the time, police said Johnson and another man, Phillip Campbell, shot and killed Boyd.”
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“But Johnson was given a new hearing after St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner filed a motion last year saying his conviction was based in large part on false eyewitness testimony and accusing prosecutors and investigators of misconduct.”
A judge on Tuesday overturned Lamar’s conviction and set him free by ruling that there was a constitutional error in the trial and Lamar was innocent.
“There is clear and convincing evidence of Lamar Johnson’s actual innocence,” Judge David Mason ruled. “Evidence so reliable that it actually passes the standard of clear and convincing.”
As the judge announced his ruling, Lamar shook his head, and tears rolled down his eyes while a legal team member patted his shoulder.
