(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . After Being Wrongfully Convicted For 28 Years And Now Free, Grateful Soul Meets His Steadfast PenPal [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-23 In October of 1994, Marcus Boyd was shot dead by two masked men on Lamar Johnson’s St. Louis, Missouri front porch. Lamar was with his girlfriend, Erika Barrow, and multiple friends at a party at the time who insisted that he was with them for the entirety of the evening. But that did not the dissuade the police and the St. Louis prosecutors. Suffice it to say, Lamar was convicted of murder, and sent to a Missouri prison for the remainder of his life. Whilst in prison, save a few family members and friends, there was no one who would fight for him, to believe in him and especially who chose to be his friend and write to him, so he could express his thoughts, dreams, hopes and desires. In 1997, a deacon at Mary, Mother of God parish in south St. Louis County handed then 54 year-old schoolteacher Ginny Schrappena a letter from Lamar, who had written the diocese hoping that someone would write back. And so Ginny did. And she received a letter back with Lamar’s gratitude, his musings, his doodles. And so it went week after week, month after month, year after year, and decade after decade. There are few sure things in life, but knowing that a letter would be sent, received, absorbed and appreciated was such a blessed assuredness. Ginny told him of her thoughts of growing old, her family nuances, her hope for Lamar’s future and for Lamar to always always always believe in himself. And to never give up hope, when all seems so bleak. She expressed things to Lamar that she hadn’t even told family nor friends. And that indeed helped Lamar weather the constant storms. And so it went. Eventually, almost twenty years ago, another parishioner of their church, Mike Jarvis, who saw and heard from Ginny just how rewarding their correspondence was, also started writing and receiving letters regularly with Lamar. And how also he believed in him. By then, most of the entirety of the congregation believed in his innocence and was behind him. Fast forward to 2019. Lamar spending untold years in hell, though having Ginny and Mike as a constant, when the simply marvelous Kimberly Gardner, who was elected as St. Louis Circuit Prosecuting Circuit Attorney, a true reformer who knew the police for what they are from all sides as a former member of the Missouri House of Representatives found out about the case. ( I will write exclusively about Kimberly in a future diary, because boy is she worth it!) You want her on your side. She teamed up with The Midwest Innocence Project and they formed and organized a local conviction integrity unit. The unit reviews post-conviction claims of innocence, hoping to exonerate innocent prisoners. And what they found infuriated them and put them in direct and constant battle with the local police. Overwhelming and substantial evidence that proved Lamar has been telling the truth. Of deceit, lies and frame- ups. State Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office had opposed prosecutors’ motion for a new trial. Tricia Bushnell, director of the Midwest Innocence Project, wasn’t buying any of it. But they fought, and it wasn’t easy. They showed with concrete proof of prosecutorial and police misconduct including that the detective investigating Boyd’s death, Joseph Nickerson, made up out of whole cloth multiple testimonies, and bribed the witness, “Greg,” with more than $4,000 if he testified against Lamar. And with a 70-page report... by the Innocence Project and the St. Louis attorney found that “the actual perpetrators…credibly confessed to the shooting of Boyd in signed sworn affidavits, personal writings…” In a letter to Johnson while he was in prison in 1995, Phillip Campbell acknowledged his own role in the murder while exonerating the wrongly accused men. The signed confession was seized by the state but no effort was made to correct the wrongful conviction despite the new evidence until it was discovered years later and was used as evidence to plea for a new trial Hearing after hearing against even more injustice…. and at every single one? Was Ginny Schrappena, and often Mike. Three people who will believe in you and stick to you like glue. Mike actually researched and helped Lamar obtain records for his case. Said Ginny, “I feel race is a big thing with this, with his life, with the sentence alone, because he is a man of color and was poor, so he had public defenders.” Who were overworked and underpaid. Eventually came the day. Said his attorney’s, “While today brings joy, nothing can restore all that the state has stolen from it. Nothing will give him back the nearly three decades he lost while being separated from his daughters and family. The evidence proving his innocence was available at his trial, but it was hidden or ignored by those who saw no value in the lives of two young black South Side men.” Lamar spent the first few weeks doing all the things he longed to do whilst in prison, and there was one person in particular whom he wanted to hold and hug and thank. And Lamar has commited to two things in his life. To always remember who was there for him, who believed in him. And to always be there for and by Ginny’s side. Said Lamar, “Especially when someone is innocent, you want someone to believe in you. Because when you have people who believe in you and don’t give up on you, then it’s harder for you to give up on yourself.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/23/2165343/-After-Being-Wrongfully-Convicted-For-28-Years-And-Now-Free-Grateful-Soul-Meets-His-Steadfast-PenPal Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/