Wrongful Convictions

Neither Lamar Johnson nor Kevin Strickland have received compensation from the Missouri for the decades they spent wrongfully incarcerated. That’s because Missouri law only allows for payments to prisoners who prove their innocence through specific DNA testing — which was not the case for either man. A new Missouri Senate bill would change that.

Attorney Lindsay Runnels of the Kansas City-based law firm Morgan Pilate has represented Lamar Johnson since 2015. Johnson was freed this week after serving 28 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

Lamar Johnson isn’t eligible for state restitution because DNA evidence wasn’t used to overturn his murder conviction.

A Missouri judge says no jury today would convict Christopher Dunn. Why is he still in prison?

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker shares her thoughts on wrongful convictions in Missouri and the motion to vacate conviction filed in the Michael Politte case in Washington County.

Attorney Joel Schwartz’s work defending Russell Faria led to “Bone Deep,” a new book co-authored by Charles Bosworth Jr.

A new podcast asks who really killed JoAnn Tate and launches a more complicated investigation than anyone predicted.

Linda Dickerson-Bell said she believes Michael Politte is innocent of the murder of his mother, Rita Politte.

Michael Politte is serving a life sentence after a jury found he murdered his mother, Rita Politte, as a 14-year-old in Washington County, Missouri. On this special edition of "St. Louis on the Air," attorneys for the Midwest Innocence Project and the MacArthur Justice Center explain why he’s not guilty — and what investigators got wrong.

Missouri’s AG’s Office has opposed calls for relief in nearly every wrongful conviction case since 2000.