Micky_Spill
02-17-2009, 11:30 PM
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Joshua Charles Kezer spent more than 14 years in prison for a murder that he insisted he didn't commit.
On Tuesday, Kezer was vindicated.
Cole County Judge Richard Callahan overturned Kezer's conviction for second-degree murder and armed criminal action and granted his claim of innocence.
"I've been laughing and crying since I heard the news," said Joni Kezer, Joshua Kezer's mother. "God is great. That's all we had to gone on. We never lost hope because we always had faith."
Kezer, now 34, was convicted in June 1994 of murdering Angela Mischelle Lawless, a 19-year-old college student who was found shot to death in a car on Interstate 55 near Benton, Mo. on Nov. 8, 1992. Kezer was serving his 60-year sentence at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.
MORE
PDF: Read the 45-page Habeus judgement
Callahan ordered Kezer's release from Jefferson City Correctional Center within 10 days unless the Scott County Prosecutor Paul Boyd decides to retry him. Boyd is expected to release a statement later today.
The ruling followed an evidentiary hearing that was held in early December. |
During the hearing, Kezer's attorneys argued that prosecutors on the original case didn't hand over several pieces of exculpatory evidence to his defense attorneys, or what's known as a "Brady" violation. No physical evidence in the original case no DNA, fingerprints or murder weapon linked Kezer to the murder.
Kezer's friends and family members said he was in Kankakee, Ill., on the night of the murder.
Missouri law states that to prove actual innocence a defendant must show clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable juror would convict a defendant in light of newly discovered facts. Attorneys from St. Louis law firm Bryan Cave have represented Kezer since 2006.
Callahan was quick to criticize the judicial process that led to Kezer's conviction.
"There is little about this case which recommends our criminal justice system," Judge Callahan wrote in his decision. "The system failed in the investigative and charging stage, it failed at trial, it failed at the post trial review and it failed during the appellate process."
Meanwhile, Callahan noted, Lawless' killer remains at large
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/637BC5F6163546A98625756000705647?OpenDocument
On Tuesday, Kezer was vindicated.
Cole County Judge Richard Callahan overturned Kezer's conviction for second-degree murder and armed criminal action and granted his claim of innocence.
"I've been laughing and crying since I heard the news," said Joni Kezer, Joshua Kezer's mother. "God is great. That's all we had to gone on. We never lost hope because we always had faith."
Kezer, now 34, was convicted in June 1994 of murdering Angela Mischelle Lawless, a 19-year-old college student who was found shot to death in a car on Interstate 55 near Benton, Mo. on Nov. 8, 1992. Kezer was serving his 60-year sentence at the Jefferson City Correctional Center.
MORE
PDF: Read the 45-page Habeus judgement
Callahan ordered Kezer's release from Jefferson City Correctional Center within 10 days unless the Scott County Prosecutor Paul Boyd decides to retry him. Boyd is expected to release a statement later today.
The ruling followed an evidentiary hearing that was held in early December. |
During the hearing, Kezer's attorneys argued that prosecutors on the original case didn't hand over several pieces of exculpatory evidence to his defense attorneys, or what's known as a "Brady" violation. No physical evidence in the original case no DNA, fingerprints or murder weapon linked Kezer to the murder.
Kezer's friends and family members said he was in Kankakee, Ill., on the night of the murder.
Missouri law states that to prove actual innocence a defendant must show clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable juror would convict a defendant in light of newly discovered facts. Attorneys from St. Louis law firm Bryan Cave have represented Kezer since 2006.
Callahan was quick to criticize the judicial process that led to Kezer's conviction.
"There is little about this case which recommends our criminal justice system," Judge Callahan wrote in his decision. "The system failed in the investigative and charging stage, it failed at trial, it failed at the post trial review and it failed during the appellate process."
Meanwhile, Callahan noted, Lawless' killer remains at large
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/637BC5F6163546A98625756000705647?OpenDocument