Expert: Wrongful arrests like in Fulton murder case are rare

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A former Mid-Missouri turned defense attorney says wrongful arrests like one in a Fulton murder case last week don't happen often.

The Fulton Police Department said Monday that charges were dropped against one of the many suspects in a deadly shooting.

Taeon Logan, 23, was charged last week with accessory to first-degree murder in the shooting of 19-year-old Jakiem Braggs of Fulton in northeast Fulton.

These charges being dropped highlight wrongful arrests and convictions in general, how they affect victims and how often they happen.

The National Institute of Justice reports that a conviction can be determined wrongful for two reasons: the person convicted is factually innocent of the charges or there were procedural errors that violated the convicted person's rights.

Bill Tackett, a former prosecuting attorney for Cole County, said that wrongful charges and convictions don't happen often.

"It's extremely unusual," Tackett said. "It's one in a vast array of cases. But when it does occur, it does require a second look, and if the prosecutor can do that and reconvict, fine. If not, then the person goes free."

Craig Johnston, an assistant prosecutor for Boone County and former appellate attorney for Christopher Dunn, a man whose first-degree murder conviction has been appealed twice, said that wrongful charges and convictions are complicated. Johnston said that the wrongfully accused and their families will feel guarded until they are let out of prison.

Luckily, in the case of Taeon Logan, he was released from jail on Friday.