Missouri activists seek more wrongful conviction hearings

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — As racial justice activists in Missouri celebrate the overturned conviction of Lamar Johnson, they’re questioning why other inmates with credible innocence claims aren’t getting the chance to make their cases in court. A 2021 Missouri law allows prosecuting attorneys to request a hearing before a judge in cases of possible wrongful convictions. In the year-and-a-half since, just two hearings have occurred. A judge in Kansas City in November 2021 overturned the conviction of Kevin Strickland, who spent four decades in prison in a triple murder case. And on Tuesday, St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason overturned the sentence of Johnson, who spent nearly 28 years in prison for the death of a man in St. Louis.