Thread by @radleybalko

Lamar Johnson is innocent. The man who committed the crime for which Johnson was has pleaded guilty.

After she was elected, the office of St. Louis DA Kim Gardner found and disclosed the evidence of Johnson's innocence that her predecessors had suppressed.

Included in that evidence: Prosecutors paid off the only eyewitness to identify Johnson, and didn't disclose this to the defense.

stlamerican.com/news/local_new…

But when the case came before the MO supreme court last year, 30 elected MO prosecutors filed a remarkable amicus brief.

In it, they argued:

1) St. Louis DA Kim Gardner behaved unethically when she asked a court to give Johnson a new trial.

2) Because he had exhausted his appeals (which he lost because, again, previous DAs suppressed exculpatory evidence), Johnson should remain in prison, regardless of innocence.

45 prosecutors from other states filed their own brief in support of Gardner.

courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=15…

Just to reiterate: 30 elected prosecutors in Missouri publicly stated that it's *unethical* for a DA to ask a court to free an innocent man -- and that an innocent man should remain in prison for procedural reasons.

In the end, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled against Johnson and Gardner. So he remains in prison. The ruling explicitly states that Johnson's innocence is irrelevant.

cbsnews.com/news/why-are-w…

Finally, I'll just note that one of the premises upon which the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act was passed in 1996 is that extensive federal review of state convictions is unnecessary because the states are perfectly capable of preventing wrongful convictions.

UPDATE: The office of Missouri governor Mike Parson just announced 14 pardons and commutations, including the McCloskeys. Lamar Johnson and Kevin Strickland did not receive a pardon or commutation. So both remain in prison, despite that even prosecutors say they’re innocent.