- Lamar Johnson, 50, is facing an unspecified lawsuit against the city of St. Louis and eight police officers who he claims “detained, arrested, and framed him for a murder he did not commit.” is seeking compensation for damages.
- Mr. Johnson was imprisoned for nearly 28 years for shooting and killing Marcus Boyd in 1994, which police and prosecutors said he did over a drug money dispute.
- “I am grateful to be free,” Johnson said in a statement released by his lawyer. “I would like to forget this dark and painful chapter, but without answers and accountability there will be no healing.”
A Missouri man who spent nearly 28 years in prison before a judge wrongly convicted him is accused of having St. Louis police officers “detain, arrest and frame him for a murder he did not commit.” The suit was filed on Wednesday.
Lamar Johnson, 50, is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. It lists the names of the city of St. Louis and eight police officers.
“I am grateful to be free and am doing my best to make up for the time taken away from me and my family, especially my daughters. I would like to forget this dark and painful chapter, but the possibility… There is no healing without answers and accountability,” Johnson said in a statement from his attorneys.
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Mr. Johnson's attorney, Emma Freudenberger, said the lawsuit seeks accountability.
“Even after the court declared him innocent, there has been no apology or result,” Freudenberger said in a statement. “The City of St. Louis cannot simply continue to ignore the clear misconduct of its police officers, which has caused so much harm to Mr. Johnson and his family.”
Lamar Johnson, who was wrongly convicted of murder, is photographed at his law office in Clayton, Missouri, on February 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Jim Salter, File)
Messages left with St. Louis police and the mayor's office Wednesday were not immediately returned.
Marcus Boyd was shot and killed in October 1994 by two masked men on the front porch of his home. Police and prosecutors said Johnson killed him over a dispute over drug money. Although Mr. Johnson initially maintained his innocence, he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
Then-Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner filed a motion seeking Johnson's release in August 2022 after an investigation conducted by her office with support from the Innocence Project found him innocent. submitted. At a hearing in December 2022, another man testified that he, not Johnson, took part in the second murder.
Witnesses to the killings said they were “bullied” and “pressured” by police to name Johnson as one of the shooters. And Johnson's girlfriend at the time of the crime testified that the two were together that night, except for about five minutes, which wasn't long enough for Johnson to arrive at Boyd's house.
St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason ruled in February that the conviction was unfair and Johnson was released.
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“Johnson was a young father working and attending college when defendants detained, arrested, and framed him for a murder he did not commit,” the complaint states.
