WEBVTT - #350 Guest Host Lauren Bright Pacheco with Lamar Johnson 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:10.799 At nine pm on October thirtieth, nineteen ninety four, Marcus 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:14.120 Boyd and Greg Elking were on Marcus's porch in Saint 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:17.920 Louis when two men approached them. Both were carrying guns 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.640 and wearing masks that covered all but their eyes. Greg 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:25.280 Elking ran off as shots rang out and Marcus was killed. 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:29.400 Marcus's girlfriend was upstairs and was immediately available to the 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:31.800 police when they asked who might have done it. She 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:34.720 claimed that Marcus may have had a drug dispute with 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:39.680 his friend, Lamar Johnson. After the only eyewitness, Greg Elkin, 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:43.480 viewed a photo lineup, a man named Philip Campbell, along 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:47.520 with Lamar Johnson were arrested, and Elking identified both men 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:50.919 in a live lineup. Lamar maintained that he had been 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.440 miles away at the time of the crime, but at trial, 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.400 the lead detective testified that a round trip to the 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.240 scene of the crime could have taken Lamar less than 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:04.640 five minutes, making his guilt plausible. A jailhouse informant also 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:07.560 said that he had overheard Lamar confessing to the murder, 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:11.959 but the most incriminating testimony of all came from Greg Elkin. 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.640 Although he didn't see the shooters faces behind their masks. 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.920 Elking said he recognized Lamar easily because of a distinctive 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:25.480 lazy eye. The eyewitness testimony was damning. After all, there 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.840 couldn't possibly be any incentive for someone to make up 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:47.240 something like that. But this is wrongful conviction. Welcome back 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.040 to wrongful conviction. I'm Lauren Bret Pacheco, broadcast journalist and 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.160 host of the podcast's Murder in Oregon, Murder in Illinois, 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.120 and Murder in Miami, and I am so excited to 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.000 be filling in for Jason Flahm in today's case. Irrefutable 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.240 evidence of innocence, as well as an eventual confession from 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.359 both of the actual assailants were not enough to receive 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.799 a new trial. It took twenty eight years a new 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:15.399 legislation for justice to finally be done in the Missouri 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:18.720 appellate system. And we are honored to be joined by 0:02:18.720 --> 0:02:20.400 its survivor, Lamar Johnson. 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.200 Welcome Heah, thank you for having us. 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.120 It's an honor. And the other half of us refers 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.640 to Lamar's attorney from Morgan Pilot in Kansas City, who's 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.120 also on the board of the Midwest Innocence Project. Lindsay Rynolds, 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:34.120 Welcome to the show. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:35.600 Thank you so much. 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.480 So, Lamar, if we can just go back. I know 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:44.560 that you are forty nine now correct, Yes, and this 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:49.720 happened when you were twenty, So just explain a little 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.040 bit about who you were at the age of twenty, 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.959 where you were living, what you were doing, and what 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.040 you were about at that point in your life. 0:02:57.600 --> 0:02:59.840 I was kind of like a lot of people from 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:02.320 the in his cities at that age. I was, I 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.120 was working, I was in school, but I was also, 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.840 you know, trying to hustle a little bit because that 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:12.160 was the probably the height of the cracker and so, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.080 like a lot of kids in the neighborhood, I was 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:15.799 trying to make a little money on the side, and 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:20.200 of course that you know, puts me in the crosshourds 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.360 of some police officers in my neighborhood. Yeah. 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:28.120 The detective that was leading this investigation, Detective Joseph Nickerson, 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:31.440 you know, a long time veteran by the time he 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:35.640 retired of the Saint Louis City Police Department. He knew 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:40.400 Lamar before. There was this group of young men, the 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.760 usual suspects for anything that happened within that neighborhood. They 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:48.840 were brought in, called down to the police station over anything, 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:53.440 whether or not they were even just because they were 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.760 a group of you know, young black men from the 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:56.720 wrong part of town. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.360 And our audience may recall the name Joseph Nickerson from 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.760 the wrongful conviction of Billy Allen, who continues to languish 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.960 on federal death row, will have his episode linked in 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.080 the bio so they can further acquaint themselves with Detective Nickerson, 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.400 who is actually on the Saint Louis DIA's do not 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:18.640 testify list due to credibility issues. And just like Marcus 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.680 and Lamar, Billy Allen was also dealing drugs, so it 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:25.320 seems like Nickerson had a type now, Lamar, I understand 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.360 it was easy for Nickerson to make a connection between 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.840 you and the victim in this case, Marcus Boyd. Not 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:33.080 only were you guys both selling drugs at the time, 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:35.880 but you were really close friends. In fact, you were 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.800 almost like family through a woman named Leslie Williams, who 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:41.960 was the mother of Marcus's child. 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:46.600 Yeah, he was dating Leslie Williams, the cousin of Pamela Williams, 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.680 and I have a daughter by Pamela Williams. Pam and 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.919 Leslie lived together, so that's how we met, probably about 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:57.320 five years before then. We just really good, came close. 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.800 Did you have a falling out of sorts? Before he 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:01.440 was murdered? 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:05.600 Marcus and I never had a fallen out on an argument, never. 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.840 Yet an alleged rift between you two over drugs was 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:13.920 eventually used as a motive for what happened on October thirtieth, 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.039 nineteen ninety four, at around nine pm. At this time, 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:19.760 Leslie Williams was in the apartment that she shared with 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.640 Marcus Boyd bathing their baby, while Marcus was downstairs on 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:27.080 their porch on Louisiana Avenue, and a man named Greg 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.520 Elkin was there to repay Marcus for some crack. So 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.799 they were talking when two armed men approached in black 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:37.920 ski masks that covered everything but their eyes. One ordered 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:42.160 Greg off the porch. They fatally shot Marcus and ran off, 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:46.520 and obviously Leslie came running down to the porch, and. 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.360 Once the shooting store, she ran downstairs and she was 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:51.359 able to see the gunman on the porch shooting, but 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.039 she couldn't make out who they were. And you know, 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.800 I guess the routine question that officers ask say, well, 0:05:57.839 --> 0:05:59.640 you know, who do you think might have something to 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.560 do with and she just, you know, she just said Lamars. 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.360 She couldn't think of anybody else. She didn' couldn't think 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:06.640 of any reason. And she was asked about that, well, 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.560 why did you think that I didn't have any reason? 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.360 They didn't owe each other any money or drugs or 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.000 anything like that. So I just think that this in 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:16.240 my name that came to her mind. 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:19.400 And it would have been very difficult to identify you 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.680 because both of the gunmen were wearing masks. 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:23.680 That's true. 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.080 Plus you were almost three miles away at the time 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:30.680 with your youngest daughter and her mother, Erica Barrow, while 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.640 also handling some business of your own. 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:37.480 Yeah, I got a call from a guy I had 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.760 just met, and he wanted to purchase some crime, and 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:46.040 I arranged to meet him at a corner of thirty 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.719 ninth and Lafayette. And it just happens that at that 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.839 corner of a friend of ours lived at that apartment too, 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:55.640 and so I just told Erica to come with us, 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.520 her and a baby to come with us, and we 0:06:57.560 --> 0:06:59.920 went to that apartment and so that I could kind 0:06:59.960 --> 0:07:02.719 of visit the friend and also meet with this person. 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.240 And it was during this five minute span where your 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.480 whereabouts could not be accounted for by Erica Barrow, that 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.680 the state eventually alleged that you had sped from Lafayette 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:18.240 and thirty ninth Street, picked up the actual other assailant 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.200 in the case, Philip Campbell, changed into dark clothing, put 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:24.400 on masks, pulled up at Marcus's, and killed him in 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.480 front of his apartment at thirty nine ten, Louisiana, which 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.200 was what like two point seven miles away? 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.200 Yeah, two to three miles away. 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.040 And so how long would it have actually taken you 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.440 to get there and get back? Realistically? 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:40.960 I don't know that. 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.280 I know that Lindsley and I don't have driven at distance. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.920 I know the Prosecutor's office has driven. In fact, I 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.880 mean the Attorney General's office even drove it a different 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.040 and I know that you couldn't have done it in 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:53.560 five minutes, let alone to two to three minutes that 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.040 Detective Nicholson testified a trial that it could have been driven. 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:01.960 Right, simple Google search sets distance at two point seven miles, 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.840 taking at least ten minutes by car, making a twenty 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:10.560 minute round trip so pure math, this is impossible. Now, Lamar, 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.600 this was your really close friend who had just been shot. 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.760 And I understand you found out about it right away. 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.400 Well, I learned after I went out and met with 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.040 this person and made the deal and came back in, 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.640 I received the call from my oldest daughter's mother and 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.560 she told me that Marcus had been a shot. She 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.640 also said that Marcus's girlfriend had said that she thought 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.040 that maybe I had something to do with it. So 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:33.719 I actually, I said, well, what happened to Marcus? And 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:35.679 she said he was outside with the white guy and 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.480 he got shot. And then I said, I asked, well, 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:40.000 did you think I had something to do with him? 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.080 When she said yeah, I said why did you think that? 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.800 And she said, well, I couldn't think of anybody else, so. 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:48.720 She didn't see what happened, but for whatever reason, she 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.600 decided that there was some kind of an issue between 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:57.920 you and Marcus, and that started this chain of events. Basically, essentially, 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.800 that's what happened, and you were all ready a known 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:04.120 entity to the lead detective on this case, Joe Nickerson, 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.240 so that's all he needed to hear. 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.000 I mean, the investigation for what it was was started 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.920 and ended at the scene that night. Honestly, Lamar Johnson's name, 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.640 you know, is in that first police report from the scene, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:21.840 before the eyewitness had even been identified, let alone found 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.800 and interviewed. And so when a single eyewitness in a 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.400 case hasn't even been identified by name, and they have 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.720 their suspect, I mean, that's not an investigation designed to 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:33.360 find facts, in my view. 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.040 And when they located Greg Elkin, the eyewitness a couple 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:39.240 of days later, what did he say? 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:42.680 He says what would be expected knowing the facts of 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:45.800 this case, which is, I couldn't identify anybody. I couldn't 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:49.280 see I didn't recognize them. They were masked. I can't 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.240 help That's what he's saying when he's first contacted, which 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:53.400 makes perfect sense. 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.640 But then later that day Elkin and his wife met 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.240 Nickerson at a diner and he was shown in array 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.040 which included and Philip Campbell, but according to Elking, he 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.840 made no identification. As it came out later, they had 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.400 a discussion that somehow changed Elkin's mind about what he'd seen. 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:14.880 That evening November third, nineteen ninety four, Lamar and Philip 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.680 Campbell were both picked up. Now, during this time, Lamar 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.200 waved his Miranda rights, spoke to Nickerson, told him where 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.319 he was across town, and it was impossible for him 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.400 to have committed the crime. And it was during this 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.079 time Lamar was alleged to have spoken to another detective, 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.959 the detective Campbell, but Lamar was completely unaware of this 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:40.760 alleged conversation until trial. Lamar knew he was innocent, so 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:42.400 he agreed to be in the lineup. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.319 Yeah, they bring Greg Elking down to the station and 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:49.200 Lamar's in one of the lineups. There's three fillers just pulled, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.720 you know, from the jail to be put into that lineup, 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:56.680 and Greg Elking views it at least three times. First time, 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:01.960 he can't identify anybody, the second time identify anybody. The 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:05.920 third time he identifies a filler from the jail, who, 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:08.760 of course everyone knows, and not a suspect and is 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.160 got the world's greatest alifi right he's in custody. The 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:16.920 lineup containing Philip Campbell, the co defendant and an actual 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.439 perpetrator in this case. He couldn't identify anyone, didn't recognize 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.360 anyone from that lineup, and of course within that lineup 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.200 is somebody that was actually on that porch with Greg Elking. 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:30.520 There was no identification made, and not only no identification 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.200 and identification of someone else, and it should have been 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:34.679 the end of. 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.319 It, but that, of course wasn't the end of it. 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.079 We now know that Greg was told who to identify, 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.920 and later he did. But take us to what happened 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.360 immediately after this live lineup. 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.400 So when I left out of the out lineup room, 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.839 Detective Nickoson was kind of leaning over a table, and 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.440 I could tell that he was frustrated, and I remember 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.240 telling him, see, I told you I didn't do this, 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:04.760 And I remember the way that he looked up at 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:06.640 me like he had atred in his eyes. That's the 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:08.960 only way that I know how to describe it. But 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.120 I'd left there knowing that I hadn't been identified, And 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:16.160 when they came back later and said, well you've been identified, 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.600 I knew then that something was going on, that something 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:21.040 was wrong. 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:25.679 Greg Elkin's testimony on this is clear. He was told 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.200 the numbers of the lineup. You know, it's three and 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.920 it's four. Three, of course was la Mar's position, and 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.520 four was Philip Campbell's position. And you know the train 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:36.520 left the station right then. 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.600 This episode is underwritten by global law firm Greenberg Truid. 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:51.800 Through its pro bono program, Greenberg Trowig leverages it's more 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:55.040 than twenty six hundred lawyers across forty four offices to 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:58.240 serve the greater good of our communities and provide equal 0:12:58.280 --> 0:13:01.560 access to justice for all. In the field of criminal justice, 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.840 greenbrog Triwergy attorneys have exonerated and free demanded Philadelphia represent 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:09.440 numerous individuals previously sentenced to life for crimes committed as 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:13.720 juveniles and resentencing hearings, and receive the American Bar Association's 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:17.720 twenty twenty one Exceptional Service Award for Death Penalty Representation 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.440 for their work on five death penalty cases. GT is 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:24.480 reimagining what big law can be because of a more 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:26.520 just world. Only happens by design. 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.640 So they took me in Philip down to the booking area, 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.559 which was the central holdover, and there's a twenty hour 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:44.920 period where the Circuit Attorney's office makes a decision on 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:50.400 whether or not to actually charge you, and the jailer 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:55.920 came that next day and said that charges had been issued, and. 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:59.400 While you and Philip Campbell were in that holding area, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:05.360 enter in jailhouse snitch named William. Can you tell me 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:08.720 a little bit, Lindsey about William Mock. 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.320 Well, William Mock had been an informant before. But you 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:17.319 know the tall tale that he told in Lamar's case 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.880 was that while he was in custody in this city 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.320 holdover area, and that's that place in the jail where 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:27.360 people are held before charges are issued. It's a long 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:30.720 line of more than ten cells housing up to you know, 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:35.120 fifteen folks, loud folks, people coming off of drugs, and 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.040 that's where they were at this particular period. They're never 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:43.200 selled together. And William Mock claims to hear Lamar and 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:48.280 Philip yelling to each other through this holding area, basically 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.800 confessing to this, saying things like, you know, we shouldn't 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.400 let the white guy live, and you know we got to, 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.680 you know, hide the gun. And you know he's claiming, 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:01.480 he Mock, that he's hearing this and hearing Lamar yelling 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:04.840 out not only hey, I'm Lamar Johnson. My name is Lamar, 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:08.760 and here's my information to a Lamont. 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.480 It's so absurd, it's so absurd. 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:15.040 It's absurd, even if you know this Lamont person had 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.560 been in there, right, But there's not a Lamont in 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.400 that jail. When William Mock is in there talking about 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:24.320 these instances, they knew Lamont wasn't in there. Lamar's lawyer 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:25.760 brings it up at trial. 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.840 And that his testimony was incentivized. 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:33.200 Of course, as they are right. I mean, jailhouse snitches 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:37.760 don't work for free, and this particular one certainly did it. 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.800 But Lamar's jury, Lamar, no one knew that William Mock 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.200 had a history of doing this exact same thing just 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.200 two years before he did it in this case. 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:50.840 Since then, letters that Mock wrote to Nickerson and the 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.000 prosecutor have been obtained. Letters that were written from prison 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.440 after his own probation had been revoked, in which he 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:01.000 was offering his services in exchange for free. And not 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.840 only were his motivations for testifying exposed in his letters 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:07.120 to the prosecutor, but also in his letters to Nickerson, 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.480 Mock's overt racism was on full display. 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:15.720 Yes, he's writing his letters as again as snitches do, 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.120 saying this is what I want and calling Lamar and 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.760 Phil his co defendant, you know, to bt Inward and 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.160 a number of other comments. And that's important because it shows, 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.640 of course his bias his motivation for doing some of this, 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:34.000 which is why under the rules that would have to 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.200 be disclosed so that the jury can test that bias. 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:39.840 And you know, that was one of our strongest Brady 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.800 claims in the case that these letters weren't disclosed to 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:44.280 Lamar or the jury. 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.680 So let's talk about the trial, which began July tenth, 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:52.760 nineteen ninety five, in Saint Louis County Circuit Court. The 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:57.440 prosecutor was Assistant Circuit Attorney Dwight Warrant, and Lamar, your 0:16:57.480 --> 0:17:01.320 public defender was David Bruns. One of the key points 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:06.119 brought up a trial was Greg Elkins's eyewitness identification in 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.080 which he said that he recognized you in the lineup 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:13.159 because of your quote lazy eye. That's true, which is 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:16.520 bizarre because I'm looking right at you, sir, and you 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.320 do not have a lazy eye. So what was all 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:21.000 of that about. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:26.760 Well, so that's confusing because he doesn't verify identification in 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:30.920 the photo spread. He actually identifies somebody else in the lineup, 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:33.920 and it's only after he had spent some time along 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.359 with Detective Niggers and that he suddenly said, oh, I 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:38.560 know who did it. It was number three or number four. 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.760 And then in the police before he says that he's 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.760 got to identify me based on a lazy or crooked eye. 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.920 I don't know where that came from. I've never heard 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.080 that before my entire life. That's the first time that 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.439 it's mentioned, which is of course when he needs some 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.480 sort of means of justifying an identification. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.119 I'm sure they knew that this case is weak. Were 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.520 going to have to explain how somebody makes an identification 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:08.399 of fully masked black men at dark you know. And 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:11.080 Dwight Warren said that at the hearing right, there was 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:15.359 no case without this identification because, as Lamar said, no 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:20.280 physical evidence, no motive was ever investigated or presented, because 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.840 there was no motive for Lamar to kill Marcus. So 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:29.360 Greg Elking's identification was central. And so when he pointed 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.640 to Lamar in front of that jury and said, that's 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:33.960 the guy I was on the porch and that's him, 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:35.960 I mean, it was the key. 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:40.960 But you found out much later after your conviction that 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:45.760 Elking had been incentivized to lie about identifying you, and 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.600 that after the trial he'd even tried to come forward 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:50.600 with the truth. 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:56.359 Well, I eventually was able to get in contact with 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:58.600 Greg and he by then he had already written his 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:02.200 pastor been trying to come forward. He just wanted to 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.720 do the right thing, and he just wrote out everything 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.640 that had occurred. He told that him and his family 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.800 was suffering financially and that as an assentive he had 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:15.639 received money new apartment and they had utilities that was 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.680 taken care of. And I mean everything that he said 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.360 is eventually we was able to cooperate all the way 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:24.920 down to their taking care of traffic tickets van. That's 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:26.520 just how detailed it was. 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:31.479 Unfortunately, no one was aware of Greg Elkins's motivation as 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:35.399 a trial, nor was anyone besides the prosecutor aware of 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:39.720 William Mock's motivations, which were not only racist, but were 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:43.240 also entirely motivated by gaining his freedom. 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:47.320 Mack had also claimed, in addition to me supposedly talking 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:50.880 with this Lamont about killing a white witness in this case, 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:53.160 I supposed to have also robbed and killed some other 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.639 white guy. And it just split the trial up and 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.679 for most of that whole second day because of this 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.159 false other case that Mack had came up with. This 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.160 just began to talk about the imaginary case, which police 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:09.280 had to eventually admit that they looked for this case 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:10.919 and it never even happened. 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:14.320 They're being asked on the stand in front of the jury, well, 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:18.320 did you investigate this other supposed robbery and homicide of 0:20:18.320 --> 0:20:21.320 a white guy on the south Side. Yeah, we did. 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:25.040 What'd you find? There's no case. So here we are 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:28.080 yet again that they have a very big important fact 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.320 that William Mack is pretending to have overheard that they 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:33.840 know it doesn't exist. The case is not real. 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.200 And that wasn't the only false testimony that was submitted. 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:41.560 There was also an alleged confession from Lamar on the 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.520 day he was arrested before the lineup to a detective 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:47.760 Ralph Campbell, no relation to Philip Campbell, in which he 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.840 was alleged to say, I shouldn't have let the white 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.119 guy live. Another conversation that never took place, and the 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:58.280 fabrications and misinformation don't end there a trial, a ski 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:02.000 mask was introduced that actually had been found in Lamar's 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:04.800 car during a traffic stop. But the problem with this 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:09.560 ski mask was when it was found in Lamar's car. 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:15.640 Yeah, it was two months before Marcus was killed, and 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:19.120 that mass was put in my car by a friend 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:20.880 of mine, guy that I knew, Yeah. 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:22.840 At one of the many times he was curbed as 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.280 they call it, you know, Saint Louis or to pull 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:28.960 up on you and search your car. That happened in August. 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.000 You know, they came. They took it from the trunk 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:34.600 of Lamar's car, along with a number of other items, 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:37.800 and packaged and put into police custody down in the 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:41.359 property lockers in August of nineteen ninety four, where it 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:44.360 sat and where it was on the night of October thirtieth, 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:47.439 so they knew it could never have been used. And 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.119 it's sitting there on council table as an exhibit for 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:53.960 all to see. And you know, it's one of the many, 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:59.800 in my view, really intentionally prejudicial things. It's completely irrelevant 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:00.639 to this case, is. 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:04.600 One hundred percent. Now. Your trial attorney, David Bruns did 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:06.639 point that out, as well as the fact that you 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:09.919 did not have a lazy eye. Your girlfriend, Erica Barrow, 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:12.320 testified you were almost three miles away from the scene, 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:14.000 adding that you were only out of her site for 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:19.040 five minutes. But Detective Nickerson rebutted your alibi, testifying that 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:23.320 he had driven that route twenty to fifty times, saying 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:25.160 that Lamar could have made the trip in no more 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:29.160 than five minutes. This testimony was left unchecked, so your 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:34.639 alibi was rebutted. They've got Elkin's identification, Mock's overheard confession, 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:39.000 and Detective Campbell offering an alleged confession as well. So 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:40.760 how long did the jury deliberate? 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:43.440 They delivered for an hour and a half. They came 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.320 back in and as most people know, if the jury 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:48.720 is not looking at you, that's a bad sign. And 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:51.919