Galileo
02-19-2009, 02:35 PM
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
Former Congressman Withheld Vital Evidence
A Cole County judge has slammed former congressman Kenny Hulshof for the wrongful conviction of Joshua Kezer and withholding key evidence.
TEXT Published: February 19, 2009 16:52h
Convicted of second degree murder at just 17 years old, and sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1992, Joshua Kezer of Colombia, Missouri, was looking at spending the rest of his life in the Jefferson City Correctional Center.
Fifteen years after being imprisoned for the murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless, Joshua Kezer’s conviction has been overturned.
Surprisingly the case was reopened in 2006 by Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter. The Sheriff’s suspicions of Lawless’ killer being still at large were voiced in a report published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in November 2007.
After Kezer was granted a hearing, the defence argued that the prosecutors in the original case failed to produce several key pieces of evidence to Kezer’s defence, three witnesses to Kezer’s confession admitted lying to have their jail sentences reduced and a key witness who placed Kezer near the murder scene recanted.
`None of the Final Statement was True`
Judge Callahan’ s 44 page ruling slammed special prosecutor and former Republican congressman, Kenny Hulshof’s, behaviour in court not to mention withholding key evidence from the defence and an exaggerated closing statement.
Part of Hulshof’s closing statement is as follows: `We put him at the scene, we put a gun in his hand, we put the victim with him, we have got blood on his clothes.`
- None of what Mr. Hulshof said in that final summary was true – Callahan said
- New evidence uncovered since the first trial, including an ex-boyfriend's DNA found under Lawless' fingernails, - further suggests that Kezer was wrongly imprisoned, the judge said for the press.
- The criminal justice system failed in the investigative and charging stage, it failed at trial, it failed at post-trial review and it failed during the appellate process, - Callahan said in his report.
I feel sorry for him
In statements to the press both Kezer’s mother Joni and Angela’s older brother commented on the judges’ verdict:
- I've been laughing and crying since I heard the news. God is great. That's all we had to gone on. We never lost hope because we always had faith, - Kezer's mother, Joni Kezer said.
- Mostly I just feel sorry for him, I really do. He sat in there all this time for something he didn't do, which is horrible for him, - said Jason Lawless, Angela’s brother.
Cole County Judge Callahan has given Scott County prosecutor, Paul Boyd, 10 days to seek a retrial or have Kezer freed.
Related Articles
http://www.javno.com/en-world/former-congressman-withheld-vital-evidence_235644
Former Congressman Withheld Vital Evidence
A Cole County judge has slammed former congressman Kenny Hulshof for the wrongful conviction of Joshua Kezer and withholding key evidence.
TEXT Published: February 19, 2009 16:52h
Convicted of second degree murder at just 17 years old, and sentenced to 60 years in prison in 1992, Joshua Kezer of Colombia, Missouri, was looking at spending the rest of his life in the Jefferson City Correctional Center.
Fifteen years after being imprisoned for the murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless, Joshua Kezer’s conviction has been overturned.
Surprisingly the case was reopened in 2006 by Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter. The Sheriff’s suspicions of Lawless’ killer being still at large were voiced in a report published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in November 2007.
After Kezer was granted a hearing, the defence argued that the prosecutors in the original case failed to produce several key pieces of evidence to Kezer’s defence, three witnesses to Kezer’s confession admitted lying to have their jail sentences reduced and a key witness who placed Kezer near the murder scene recanted.
`None of the Final Statement was True`
Judge Callahan’ s 44 page ruling slammed special prosecutor and former Republican congressman, Kenny Hulshof’s, behaviour in court not to mention withholding key evidence from the defence and an exaggerated closing statement.
Part of Hulshof’s closing statement is as follows: `We put him at the scene, we put a gun in his hand, we put the victim with him, we have got blood on his clothes.`
- None of what Mr. Hulshof said in that final summary was true – Callahan said
- New evidence uncovered since the first trial, including an ex-boyfriend's DNA found under Lawless' fingernails, - further suggests that Kezer was wrongly imprisoned, the judge said for the press.
- The criminal justice system failed in the investigative and charging stage, it failed at trial, it failed at post-trial review and it failed during the appellate process, - Callahan said in his report.
I feel sorry for him
In statements to the press both Kezer’s mother Joni and Angela’s older brother commented on the judges’ verdict:
- I've been laughing and crying since I heard the news. God is great. That's all we had to gone on. We never lost hope because we always had faith, - Kezer's mother, Joni Kezer said.
- Mostly I just feel sorry for him, I really do. He sat in there all this time for something he didn't do, which is horrible for him, - said Jason Lawless, Angela’s brother.
Cole County Judge Callahan has given Scott County prosecutor, Paul Boyd, 10 days to seek a retrial or have Kezer freed.
Related Articles
http://www.javno.com/en-world/former-congressman-withheld-vital-evidence_235644