Legal Commentary

Missouri's Josh Kezer Released After 17 Years

By Jeralyn

Via MikeB30020, in Jefferson City, Missouri, Josh Kezer has been ordered released from prison by Judge Richard Callahan. There won't be a new trial. Case over.

A man who spent half of his life in prison for a 1992 slaying was freed Wednesday after a judge ruled that he was wrongly convicted and had to be retried or released.

Joshua Kezer, 34, left the Jefferson City Correctional Center on Wednesday afternoon when Scott County prosecutor Paul Boyd said he would not seek a new trial.

TChris wrote this post about Kezer a few months ago. Kezer was prosecuted by Kenny Hulshof, who went on to become a Republican congressman from Missouri and last year made an unsuccessful bid for MO Governor.

The key witness changed his story and Hulshof didn't disclose it to the defense. [More...]

In his ruling, Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan criticized the special prosecutor who helped persuade a jury to convict Kezer of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Angela Mischelle Lawless, a 19-year-old nursing student at Southeast Missouri State University. Callahan ruled that special state prosecutor Kenny Hulshof improperly withheld several key pieces of evidence from Kezer's defense attorneys.

Callahan also said Kezer met the legal burden of "demonstrating actual innocence by clear and convincing evidence. ... Confidence in his conviction and sentence are so undermined that they cannot stand and must be set aside."

As TChris wrote in his post:

Given the slim and shady evidence against Kezer, it's reasonable to believe he would have been acquitted had the jury known that Abbott changed his story -- and continued to change it, eventually giving five different versions of what he allegedly witnessed. Prosecutor-turned-politician Kenny Hulshof apparently didn't want to risk losing a high profile case by divulging the full story.

Hulshof's reaction:

Hulshof, a former member of Congress who now works for a Kansas City-based law firm, said in a statement Tuesday that he remained "convinced that Joshua Kezer, a member of the violent Latin Kings gang, is guilty of this crime."

My comment on Hulsof is here. As an aside, that's what he told me when I interviewed him about Dale Helmig. He needs to retire that talking point.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 19, 2009 (boomark / email).