Brief filed: 02/10/2020
Documents
Missouri v. Johnson
Supreme Court of Missouri; Case No. SC98303
Prior Decision
Decision below 2019 WL 7157665 (Mo.App. E.D. Dec. 24, 2019)
Argument(s)
Conviction of innocent persons cannot be tolerated. A prosecutor should be able to exercise her statutory and ethical duty to assist in overturning wrongful convictions. Missouri’s state habeas corpus rule is inadequate to provide a remedy to innocent persons who are wrongfully convicted because it requires the innocent person, who may be without counsel, to file and litigate his petition in the county where he is in custody rather than the county of conviction. Missouri Court Rules 29.11 (motion for new trial) and 29.12 (plain error) should be construed to allow a prosecutor to file a motion in the trial court to correct a wrongful conviction.
Author(s)
Kathryn B. Parish and Elizabeth Unger Carlyle, Carlyle Parish LLC, St. Louis, Missouri; Charles E. Atwell, Foland, Wickens, Roper, Hofer and Crawford, P.C., NACDL, Kansas City, Missouri.
