Missouri Man Seeks Exoneration in Murder; 2 Others Confessed

Missouri Man Seeks Exoneration in Murder; 2 Others Confessed
Lamar Johnson takes a seat in court at the start of his wrongful conviction hearing in St. Louis on Dec. 12, 2022. David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, Pool
The Associated Press
Updated:
0:00

ST. LOUIS—Lamar Johnson has wrongly spent nearly three decades in prison for a St. Louis killing after a witness was coerced into falsely identifying him as the shooter, an attorney for the local prosecutor’s office told a judge Monday.

But Assistant Missouri Attorney General Miranda Loesch said detectives will testify that they never threatened or coerced anyone. “They did their job” and followed leads that pointed to Johnson as the killer, Loesch said.