ST. LOUIS (AP) — The judge presiding over a hearing to determine if a Missouri man’s murder conviction should be overturned questioned on Friday if police and prosecutors “were in a little bit of a rush” to convict Lamar Johnson.
St. Louis Circuit Judge David Mason is presiding over a hearing on Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s effort to vacate Johnson’s murder conviction in the 1994 killing of Marcus Boyd. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is seeking to keep Johnson behind bars.
The hearing is different from a typical trial, and Mason frequently asked questions of his own.