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Marcus Boyd was shot to death on October 30, 1994, on the porch of his St. Louis, Missouri, home. A year later, Lamar Johnson was convicted of the murder but it was later revealed to be a wrongful conviction and Johnson was exonerated and released from prison earlier this year. Johnson's exoneration and subsequent release made headlines recently.
Johnson's conviction was based solely on the testimony of a single witness who picked the former from the police line-up. However, the witness later recanted his statement. The only witness in the case was Greg Elking, who was also Boyd's friend. He claimed that on the night of the shooting, two masked men shot Boyd multiple times.
Elking said that since only the eyes of the shooters were visible, he didn't know what they looked like. However, he still picked Lamar Johnson from a police line-up. He said that detectives pressured him into making an identification, an allegation the case's lead detective denied under oath.
Additionally, a man named James "B.A." Howard, who lived in Boyd's neighborhood at the time, revealed that he and a friend were the real killers.
This Saturday's CBS 48 Hours episode is set to revisit the decades-old case against Lamar Johnson in Marcus Boyd's shooting. The episode, titled Lamar Johnson: Standing in Truth, airs on the channel on April 29, 2023, at 10 pm ET.
The synopsis states:
"A man gets his life back after spending 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. "48 Hours" investigates and is there as Johnson is freed in time to walk his daughter down the aisle."
A key witness claimed two masked men shot 25-year-old Marcus Boyd on his St. Louis porch
According to a crucial eyewitness, Marcus Boyd was gunned down on the porch of his home by two masked men on the night of October 30, 1994. The witness, Greg Elking, was visiting Boyd to pay off a $40 drug debt. Elking claimed that the two men showed up, shot the victim multiple times, and fled the scene.
Reports state that Boyd's girlfriend, Leslie Williams, called 911 moments after the shooting occurred. Boyd was taken to University Hospital by paramedics, where he was pronounced dead within the hour. Williams reportedly told authorities that she did not witness the incident and was inside the apartment when she heard the shot.
Marcus Boyd's close friend Lamar Johnson was soon declared a suspect in the murder as one of the shooters. He was suspected of murder after it was discovered that the two men, who sold drugs together, had a falling-out after an argument over missing drugs and stolen money. Johnson, however, asserted that he was a few miles away from the crime scene with his girlfriend when the shooting occurred and was not involved.
Later, Greg Elking, the sole witness to the crime, identified Johnson from a police line-up of pictures based on his eyes. Elking claimed that he only managed to get a glimpse of one of the assailants' eyes. He said that since Johnson was among the other suspects in the line-up, he finally identified him. Elking later testified about it at Johnson's trial in 1995, claiming that he could identify him just by his eyes.
Greg Elkin's testimony led to the wrongful conviction of Lamar Johnson, who was recently exonerated
This testimony led to Lamar Johnson's wrongful conviction. He was sentenced to life in prison while a second suspect, Phil Campbell, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for a seven-year prison term.
Campbell, who has since died, and another man, James Howard, claimed that Johnson was not involved in Marcus Boyd's murder after his conviction and even confessed to the crime.
According to CBS, Greg Elking later revealed that he was pressured into identifying Lamar Johnson as one of the shooters by detectives. However, the lead detective, Joseph Nickerson, has denied the claim under oath. Elking claimed that he lied because he thought he was doing the right thing.
Elking's testimony led to the wrongful conviction of Johnson, who was only recently released from prison after serving nearly 30 years. The state's only witness recanted his testimony and Judge David Mason ruled to vacate Johnson's murder conviction in Marcus Boyd's shooting death.
Lamar Johnson recently walked his daughter Kiera Barrow down the aisle on April 21, 2023, as a free man.
CBS 48 Hours will further delve into Marcus Boyd's murder and Lamar Johnson's wrongful conviction on Saturday, April 29, 2023, at 10 pm ET.
