Twenty-eight years. Think of all the things that you have done in the past 28 years. Gatherings with family and friends; concerts, sporting events, and vacations; birthdays and Christmases; a lifework that gave you dignity and purpose. I spent those days in prison for a crime I did not commit. On Feb. 14, the truth was finally acknowledged, and I walked from a St. Louis courthouse a free man.
On Nov. 3, 1994, when I was just 20 years old, I was arrested for the murder of my best friend. From the moment I was accused, I told everyone I was innocent, including in my first conversation with police. I told them I was with my girlfriend nearly three miles away. She confirmed my alibi and so did others who were there, but the police didn’t even interview them. It didn’t matter. The police had already decided I was their suspect, and they relied on false testimony from a jailhouse informant to convict me.
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Jailhouse informants are detained or incarcerated people who provide information — usually about a defendant confessing to a crime — and typically expect to be rewarded for the “help” they provide. Prosecutors often offer jailhouse informants a host of benefits, including reduced charges in their pending criminal case, sentence reductions, special inmate privileges, assistance to their family and sometimes even money. Seems like a pretty strong incentive to fabricate a story, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, jailhouse informant testimony is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. Since 1983, unreliable jailhouse informant testimony has contributed to sending 10 people to Missouri prisons for crimes they didn’t commit. Collectively, they spent more than 120 years behind bars. I’m one of them.
At my trial in July 1995, a jailhouse informant testified that he overheard me in a crowded holding area of the jail discussing the murder. That was a lie. He told police and the jury that I was yelling out this information to a “Lamont,” but jail records proved there was not a “Lamont” in the jail. He testified that he hadn’t asked for much in exchange for testifying against me — only that the prosecutor write to the parole board on his behalf. Another lie. He testified that he only had three felony convictions and wasn’t ever treated in a psychiatric hospital. Yet another lie.
Throughout the years, the two men who actually committed the murder repeatedly confessed. One of them wrote me a letter days after I was convicted and admitted that he killed my friend, not me. No one cared. Both of the men who killed my friend executed multiple sworn affidavits stating that I had no part in the murder. Even so, I sat in prison because court after court denied me a hearing to present my evidence of innocence.
I never gave up. I did a lot of background work, requesting documents about the informant using open records laws. Those documents, which had always been available to the state, proved he had an extensive criminal history and had been an informant before. It proved he lied.
Everyone is denied justice when someone is wrongfully convicted based on unreliable jailhouse witness testimony. Without proper protections in place, the use of jailhouse informants will continue to send innocent people to prison and victims of crimes will continue to wait for true accountability.
Republican state Sen. Nick Schroer filed Senate Bill 489 this session, which aims to make sure a jailhouse informant is reliable before his or her testimony is used in a criminal case. His legislation would require prompt disclosure of specific jailhouse witness evidence — including the deal informants expect to receive for their testimony, their criminal history, and other cases where they have testified before — as well as tracking jailhouse witness testimony, requiring pretrial admissibility hearings, and instructing the jury to use caution when evaluating the reliability of an incentivized witness. Other states, like Nebraska, have already adopted similar measures, and our neighbors in Kansas have passed a similar bill through their House. Missouri should be next.
Had a law like this existed when I was convicted, I might have had a fighting chance at trial. Nothing can give me or my family back those 28 years. But passing this legislation would be an important step toward ensuring accuracy and reliability in our criminal trials by requiring safeguards before the state can use jailhouse informant testimony. A fair and reliable criminal justice system is our shared goal and this legislation gets us one step closer to equal justice for all Missourians. I support this legislation and I hope you will, too.
Lamar Johnson was exonerated on Feb. 14 after spending more than 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial page editor Tod Robberson gives tips to readers on how to craft an op-ed.
