Convicting the Innocent
DNA Exonerations Database

Larry Johnson

First NameLarry
Last NameJohnson
Year of Conviction1984
Year of Exoneration2002
State of ConvictionMissouri
Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty PleaTrial
Type of CrimeRape
Death SentenceNo
Gender of ExonereeMale
Race of exonereeBlack
JuvenileNo
Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense

● Defense argued mistaken identity and challenged victim’s identification

Did the defendant testify at trial?No
Types of evidence at trial
  • Eyewitness
  • Forensic Evidence
Type of Forensic Evidence
  • Serology
Types of Flawed Forensics
  • Valid (Non-probative)
Brief Quote / Description of Testimony

Testified only that he found spermatozoa.

Identity of eyewitness
  • Cross Racial Identification
  • Victim
Lineup Procedures
  • Composite drawing
  • Lineup
  • Mug shots
  • Photo array
Suggestive Procedures

Yes ● Suggestive remarks – redrawing of composite

Quotes from testimony #1

Prosecutor requested four weeks before trial that the composite be redrawn to add a mustache – police artist explained “One is a face without a mustache and one is a face with a mustached penciled in.”

Unreliable Identification?

No ● Discrepancies in description – facial hair, hair ● Voice nonidentification

Quotes from testimony #2

Victim described attacker to the officers as having a “clean shaven pudgey face” Yet he had a ‘mustache, light beard” when arrested the day following the incident. “Did you identify any of the voices of being the voice of the person who attacked you that night? A. I really couldn’t concentrate on their voices. No, I did not identify them.”

Highest level reachedAppeal
Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction
  • Jury Selection
Citations to judicial opinions

Missouri v. Johnson, 722 S.W.2d 62 (Mo. 1986)

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