ST. LOUIS: A Missouri judge on Tuesday overturned the conviction of a man who has served nearly 28 years of a life sentence for a killing that he has always said he didn’t commit.
Lamar Johnson, 50, closed his eyes and shook his head slightly as a woman on his legal team patted him on the back when Circuit Judge David Mason issued his ruling.
Before announcing his decision, Mason said that in weighing the case, there had to be “reliable evidence of actual innocence — evidence so reliable that it actually passes the standard of clear and convincing.”
A court official said after the hearing that Johnson would be “processed out” but should be available soon outside of the courthouse.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner filed a motion in August seeking Johnson’s release, prompting a hearing in December before Mason.
“Today the courts righted a wrong — vacating the sentence of Mr. Lamar Johnson, following his wrongful conviction in 1995,” Gardner said in a statement after Tuesday’s hearing. “Most importantly, we celebrate with Mr. Johnson and his family as he walks out of the courtroom as a free man.”
Gardner said she’s “pleased that Mr. Johnson will have the opportunity to be the man and member of community that he desires.”
The Missouri attorney general’s office argued at the December hearing that Johnson should remain in prison.
Johnson was convicted of murder for the 1994 fatal shooting of Marcus Boyd. Police and prosecutors blamed the killing on a dispute over drug money. From the outset, Johnson maintained his innocence, saying he was with his girlfriend miles (kilometers) away when the crime occurred.
Gardner said an investigation conducted by her office with help from the Innocence Project convinced her that Johnson was telling the truth.
Boyd was shot to death on the front porch of his home by two men wearing ski masks on Oct. 30, 1994. While Johnson was convicted and sentenced to life, a second suspect, Phil Campbell, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for a seven-year prison term.
Johnson testfied at the December hearing that he was with his girlfriend on the night of the crime, except for a few minutes when he stepped outside of the home of a friend to sell drugs on a corner several blocks from where the victim was killed.
“Did you kill Marcus Boyd?” an attorney asked.
“No, sir,” Lamar Johnson responded.
Johnson’s girlfriend at the time, Erika Barrow, testified that she was with Johnson that entire night, except for about a five-minute span when he left to make the drug sale. She said the distance between the friend’s home and Boyd’s home would have made it impossible for Johnson to get there and back in five minutes.
The case for Johnson’s release was centered around a key witness who recanted his testimony and a prison inmate who says it was he — not Johnson — who joined Campbell in the killing.
James Howard, 46, is serving a life sentence for murder and several other crimes that happened three years after Boyd was killed. He testified at the hearing that he and Campbell decided to rob Boyd, who owed one of their friends money from the sale of drugs.
Howard testified that he shot Boyd in the back of the head and neck, and that Campbell shot Boyd in the side.
“Was Lamar Johnson there?” asked Jonathan Potts, an attorney for Johnson.
“No,” Howard answered.
Howard and Campbell years ago signed affidavits admitting to the crime and claiming Johnson was not involved. Campbell has since died.
James Gregory Elking testified in December that he was on the front porch with Boyd, trying to buy crack cocaine, when the two gunmen wearing black ski masks came around the house and began the attack. Elking, who later spent several years in prison for bank robbery, initially told police he couldn’t identify the gunmen.
He agreed to view a lineup anyway. Elking testified that when he was unable to name anyone from the lineup as a shooter, Detective Joseph Nickerson told him, “I know you know who it is,” and urged him to “help get these guys off the street.”
Saying he felt “bullied” and “pressured,” Elking named Johnson as one of the shooters. Gardner’s office said Elking was also paid at least $4,000 after agreeing to testify.
“It’s been haunting me,” he said of his role in sending Johnson to prison.
Nickerson denied coercing Elking. He testified in December that Elking’s identification of Johnson was based on all that he could see of the shooter’s face — his eyes. Johnson has one eye that looks different than the other, Nickerson said. “You can clearly see it.”
Dwight Warren, who prosecuted Johnson in 1995, said that beyond Elking’s testimony, the main evidence against Johnson was an overheard jail cell conversation. A jailhouse informant, William Mock, told investigators at the time that he heard Campbell and Johnson talking when one of them said, “We should have shot that white boy,” apparently referring to Elking.
Warren acknowledged that convicting Johnson would have been “iffy” without Mock’s testimony.
At the December hearing, Special Assistant to the Circuit Attorney Charles Weiss sought to raise credibility concerns about Mock, noting that he sought release from incarceration as a reward for aiding the case. He had been successful in getting probation after a similar jailhouse revelation years earlier in Kansas City, Missouri.
Nickerson described Johnson as a violent drug dealer who had been arrested in killings “probably three times” before Boyd’s death, but was never convicted because witnesses wouldn’t testify.
Judge Mason heard that, paused, then asked, “You sure this isn’t a situation where you guys were in a little bit of a rush to make a conviction?”
“Not at all, Your Honor, not one bit,” Nickerson responded.
In March 2021, the Missouri Supreme Court denied Johnson’s request for a new trial after then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office argued successfully that Gardner lacked the authority to seek one so many years after the case was adjudicated.
The case led to the passage of a state law that makes it easier for prosecutors to get new hearings in cases where there is fresh evidence of a wrongful conviction. That law freed another longtime inmate, Kevin Strickland, last year. He had served more than 40 years for a Kansas City triple killing.
Judge vacates conviction of man imprisoned nearly 3 decades
https://arab.news/b27fc
Judge vacates conviction of man imprisoned nearly 3 decades
- Lamar Johnson was convicted of murder for the 1994 fatal shooting of Marcus Boyd — police and prosecutors blamed the killing on a dispute over drug money
- The case for Johnson’s release was centered around a key witness who recanted his testimony and a prison inmate who says it was he — not Johnson — who participated in the killing
German military to order exploding drones for first time, sources say
The procurement of armed drones has been controversial in Germany
BERLIN: The German military will be armed with loitering munitions, or exploding drones, for the first time, two defense ministry sources said on Thursday, as Berlin tries to catch up with a technology that has shown its destructive power in Ukraine.
Both Russia and Ukraine have fielded such single-use drones, which cruise toward their target before plummeting at velocity and detonating on impact.
But the procurement of armed drones has been controversial in Germany, with some politicians associating them with targeted extrajudicial killings by US forces in Afghanistan.
It took years of heated debate before parliament agreed in 2022 to enable a large drone such as the Heron TP, which flies at much higher altitudes, to carry arms.
However, military upgrades are more urgent now for Germany, amid the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine and doubts about the future of US military protection.
Last month, parliament approved plans for a defense spending surge worth hundreds of billions of euros.
Contracts with two companies for a first batch of exploding drones will be signed in the coming days, the sources said, declining to name the companies. The army, air force and navy will test them in the following months.
“The use of drones and the defense against drones is crucial for the survival of our troops on the modern battlefield, that’s something we learned in Ukraine,” said one of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Each soldier must be capable of operating drones, just as today, everybody knows how to use binoculars.”
Germany will aim to sign longer-term contracts by the end of the year for a larger number of drones, shortening the period for introducing new weapons which usually takes years.
As drone technology evolves rapidly, the deals will specify that companies supply a limited number initially for training purposes, and that they may be asked later to supply a larger number of the latest models at short notice, if needed.
“There’s no use in purchasing thousands of drones ... only to realize they are outdated by the time we need them,” one of the sources said.
Trump moves to fire several national security officials over concerns they’re not loyal
- National security adviser Mike Waltz is fighting back criticism over using Signal app to discuss attacks on Yemen's Houthi militants
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has moved to fire several senior White House National Security Council officials soon after he was urged by far-right activist Laura Loomer to purge staffers she deemed insufficiently committed to his Make America Great Again agenda, several people familiar with the matter said Thursday.
Loomer presented her research to Trump in an Oval Office meeting on Wednesday, making her case for the firings, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Serio Gor, the director of the Presidential Personnel Office, took part in the meeting, the people said.
NSC spokesman Brian Hughes declined to comment on the meeting or the firings, insisting that the White House does not discuss personnel matters.
Loomer, who has promoted 9/11 conspiracy theories, was a frequent presence on the campaign trail during Trump’s 2024 successful White House run. More recently, she’s been speaking out on social media about some members of Trump’s national security team that she insists can’t be trusted.
The move by Trump to push out staff comes at a moment when his national security adviser Mike Waltz is fighting back criticism over using the publicly available encrypted Signal app to discuss planning for the sensitive March 15 military operation targeting Houthi militants in Yemen.
A journalist, The Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Rosenberg, was mistakenly added to the chain and revealed that Trump’s team used it to discuss precise timing of the operation, aircraft used to carry out the strikes and more.
Waltz has taken responsibility for building text chain, but has said he does not know how Rosenberg ended up being included.
Russia, African juntas blast Ukraine as they deepen ties
- Moscow has tried to build new partnerships in Africa, where it has been growing in influence in recent years, including militarily
- Foreign ministers from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso met Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow for the summit
MOSCOW: Russia and a group of west African countries led by military juntas hailed growing military ties at a summit in Moscow on Thursday, with some condemning Ukraine as a “terrorist” state.
Facing isolation in the West following its full-scale offensive against Ukraine, Moscow has tried to build new partnerships in Africa, where it has been growing in influence in recent years, including militarily.
Foreign ministers from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso met Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow for the summit, which Lavrov said would “strengthen the whole suite” of their relations.
The three Sahelian countries are led by juntas who seized power in coups and have turned away from former colonial power France while moving closer to Russia, which has been sending mercenaries to help them fight a transnational jihadist insurgency.
Lavrov said Russia was ready to help “strengthen the three countries’ combat capability” and train soldiers and law enforcement officers.
He added that Moscow could help the countries form a joint armed force “by organizing special courses, by using instructors who are already working in large numbers in the countries” and by “supplying military production.”
Mali’s Abdoulaye Diop said that Mali and Russia shared views on “fighting against terrorism.”
“We consider Ukraine as simply a terrorist state,” the minister said at a press conference.
Mali last year broke off diplomatic relations with Ukraine, accusing a senior Ukrainian official of having admitted Kyiv played a role in a heavy defeat suffered by Malian troops.
Niger then joined Mali in cutting diplomatic ties, accusing Kyiv of supporting “terrorist groups.”
Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Thursday rejected claims it had interfered in Mali’s affairs as “baseless,” and suggested Diop’s comments were unserious given he “represents an illegitimate junta that usurped power.”
Moscow has concluded defense agreements with Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger and supplied them with military equipment.
UK watchdog announces probe into Prince Harry charity
- The watchdog added that it would be examining whether the charity’s current and former trustees had “fulfilled their duties and responsibilities under charity law“
- The row at Sentebale escalated on Sunday after its chairperson Sophie Chandauka accused the prince of “bullying“
LONDON: The UK’s charity watchdog on Thursday opened a probe into Sentebale, the African organization co-founded by Prince Harry, after a bitter boardroom row led King Charles III’s younger son to step down as patron.
“After a period of assessing the initial concerns raised with the Commission, the regulator informed the charity on 2 April 2025 it has opened a regulatory compliance case,” the Charity Commission said in a statement.
The watchdog added that it would be examining whether the charity’s current and former trustees had “fulfilled their duties and responsibilities under charity law.”
The row at Sentebale escalated on Sunday after its chairperson Sophie Chandauka accused the prince of “bullying” and being involved in a “cover up.”
Earlier, Harry and Sentebale’s co-founder, Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso, announced their departure from the charity they established in 2006, following a “devastating” dispute between trustees and Chandauka.
Relations with Chandauka, who was appointed in 2023, “broke down beyond repair,” they said in a joint statement last week, prompting trustees to leave and demand that Chandauka resign.
Harry founded the charity in honor of his mother, Princess Diana, with Seeiso to help young people with HIV and AIDS in Lesotho and later Botswana.
The latest accusations are a fresh blow for the prince, who kept up only a handful of his private patronages including with Sentebale after a dramatic split with the British royals in 2020.
While Harry was integral to the founding vision of the charity, to which he once said he was “committed for the rest of my life,” Chandauka has said “Sentebale has a future” beyond the prince.
Harry chose the name Sentebale as a tribute to Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when the prince was just 12. It means “forget me not” in the Sesotho language and is also used to say goodbye.
Thousands of innovators gather in New Delhi for India’s largest startup event
- With 160,000 startups, India is world’s third-largest startup ecosystem after US, China
- Startup Mahakumbh 2025 focuses on AI, cybersecurity, health, energy, gaming, space tech
NEW DELHI: India’s largest startup event began in New Delhi on Thursday, bringing together thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders from across the country and abroad.
Dubbed Startup Mahakumbh, the expo is organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, and the Indian government’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
Around 3,000 startups are participating in the three-day event at Bharat Mandapam — the venue of the 2023 G20 summit — where they are presenting their innovations across sectors including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, health, biotechnology, energy, gaming, finance, mobility, defense, agri tech and space tech.
Jitin Prasada, the minister of state for commerce, industry, electronics and IT, opened the expo, saying that India had strong policies in place to support the development of the startup ecosystem.
“India is ready for the challenge. We have the talent, we have the skills. We have an agile government,” he told the participants.
“We’re going to showcase to the world what India is about. Together with the government, the stakeholders, and you above all in front of me, together we will collaborate, work for a better, stronger, creative, and more vibrant India.”
The number of companies participating in Startup Mahakumbh has doubled from its inaugural edition last year. It will also feature exhibitors and delegates from 50 countries, compared with about a dozen in 2024.
Sanjiv Singh, joint secretary at the DPIIT, told reporters: “At one end we will have a flying taxi made in India on display; at the other we have countries like Korea setting up a pavilion of 11 startups, and Nepal putting up the largest pavilion with one of its startups showcasing a two-stage rocket powered by sustainable hybrid propulsion rocket engines.
“The event will be a great opportunity to connect and collaborate.”
India has about 160,000 registered startups, according to DPIIT data. Among these, more than 100 have achieved unicorn status, which means they are valued at $1 billion or more.
With the rapid growth in the sector over the past few years — from 500 DPIIT-recognized startups in 2016 and fewer than 10 unicorns — India has emerged as the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem, after the US and China.
Rajesh Nambiar, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, said: “We also witnessed tech startup IPOs triple in 2024 compared to 2023, so that’s a lot of momentum. It’s not just about the rising momentum. It is compounding year on year, which gives us the confidence that this is going to be something which will be a huge differentiator for us as a nation.
“Last year we added the second highest number of unicorns globally, which is a huge testimony for India as a country. Also in 2024, the tech sector contributed a staggering $283 billion in terms of the broader contribution, and this accounts roughly for about 7.3 percent of GDP.”
The development of tech-based startups, Nambiar told the Startup Mahakumbh audience, will drive India’s technological sovereignty.
“For India to be truly emerging as a developed nation, we must achieve this tech sovereignty; a future where we are not just users of technology, but we are actually creators and builders of technology or transformative technology as we move forward,” he said.
“This also means that we are leading in patents, not just platforms; we would be shaping standards, not just following them. We are going to be owning IP (intellectual property) that drives global progress, and the deep tech ecosystem will be the fulcrum of this transformation.”
