Man convicted of murder despite being nowhere near the crime scene | Forensic Files

I'm just going to ask you did you kill Marcus Boyd did not kill Marcus on October 30th 1994 25 year old Marcus
Boyd was sitting on the front steps of his home in South St Louis with his friend Greg elking Boyd's girlfriend and
their baby were upstairs all he talked about all the time you know was about his baby and about his girlfriend he's
making me laugh we're kind of laughing at each other but all of a sudden he went serious he was like oh no
from the narrow pathway next to Boyd's apartment two men came out of nowhere these guys they had completely dark
clothing and they had masks on elking says the men flew up the porch steps one grabbed Boyd and the other grabbed
elking and he says get up I remember looking at him right in the guy's eyes the other guy I seen him put the gun
right up to Marcus's like neck area and when he pulled the trigger I seen The Flash
boom the third shot I kind of seen Marcus's Soul just go and I knew I knew he was dead
to elking's horror both men continued to shoot void then they vanished sparing the only eyewitness and where were you
when this happened I was about three miles away Johnson who was only 20 at the time says he was with his girlfriend
Erica Barrow and their five-month-old daughter Kiara visiting friends Johnson had been working at Jiffy Lube
while attending Community College but he also had a dangerous side hustle selling
small amounts of crack cocaine for extra cash yes I was making some poor choices then
and I take responsibility for that but that wasn't the sum of who I was on the night of the shooting Erica says
Lamar was only out of her sight once so we were there because he was making a transaction someone was coming
and so he was just like I'll be right back Johnson left the house Erica says just
as she began changing Kiara's diaper and I went out to meet a somebody that I was dealing with he says
a customer picked him up at the corner of 39th and Lafayette and they made a quick transaction while driving around
the block by the time I finish changing her diaper and clean everything up he's coming back
up the steps and how long does that take three to five minutes and he's talking you know nothing out of the ordinary it
he was just normal minutes later Johnson got a call that his friend Marcus Boyd had been shot
Johnson's life then began to unravel according to investigators when they asked Boyd's girlfriend who she
suspected only one name came to mind Lamar Johnson she thought the longtime friends might have had a falling out
Marcus and I have never had an argument or a fight I loved him I had no reason to want to
hurt him you agreed to talk to the cops without a lawyer that was risky wasn't it
well no I didn't have anything on November 3rd 1994 four days after the murder Johnson was arrested in July 1995
he went on trial the defense relied on Johnson's Alibi Erica Barrow who said he was with her at the time of the murder
it took less than two hours for the jurors to reach a verdict guilty at Montreal they did not even present a
motive they never explained why I supposedly did this Johnson was sentenced to life in prison without
Parole in 2018 St Louis circuit attorney Kimberly Gardner agreed to look at his case I started seeing some red flags
and I consulted my team and I said I think we have a problem here one of the many red flags for Gardner was the
timeline of the murder could Johnson have had time to kill his friend Marcus Boyd Erica Barrow said he only left his
friend's apartment for around five minutes you cannot drive that distance you'd have to be speeding through St Louis to
even get there and then you'd have to speed all the way back there's no way you could do that at Johnson's trial
Detective Joe Nickerson testified that it only took him five minutes to go from The Alibi location to the crime scene 48
Hours asked Chief investigator from the circuit attorney's office Robert Ogilvy to take Aaron Moriarty on that same
Drive according to testimony it just takes five minutes to get there you're laughing yeah
the drive was timed using a cell phone yep 12 55 13 minutes 13 minutes one way that's more than double the time
detective Nickerson said it took as a prosecutor you put people in prison you don't try to get them out as a
prosecutor no prosecutor I believe wants to secure conviction wrongfully using wrong tactics that's just not what
we want to do we want to get it right

Lamar Johnson was convicted of murder despite being three miles away from the crime scene. "48 Hours" takes a drive to see if it would have even been possible for Johnson to kill Markus Boyd.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Lamar Johnson was wrongfully convicted for the murder of Marcus Boyd, later exonerated due to timeline inconsistencies in the investigation.

Key points

The Night of the Shooting. Marcus Boyd was shot in front of his home, leaving his friend and family in shock.
Lamar Johnson's Arrest. Four days after the murder, Lamar Johnson was arrested based on a shaky alibi.
Red Flags in the Case. St. Louis circuit attorney Kimberly Gardner noticed inconsistencies in the timeline of the murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I knew I knew he was dead.

Witnessing the shooting of Marcus Boyd

1:09WatchMay 2, 2023

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