1st Case Lamar Johnson
2005
In 2005, Lamar Johnson pleaded not guilty to killing Carlos Sawyer, who
was shot and killed outside an elementary school in East Baltimore. Based
on eyewitness testimony that Lamar Johnson resembled the killer. Lamar
Johnson was sentenced to life in prison.
Lawyers from the Innocence Project discovered three other witnesses
who independently confirmed that Johnson was not the gunman. One
man said he saw the shooter and it was not Johnson. Another told inves-
tigators that he heard a different
person confess to the killing. The
third witness, a woman, said that
the gunman ran past her after the
shooting and it was not Lamar
Johnson. Asked why they did not
come forward earlier, they said
they were afraid to testify,
The attorneys presented their
evidence to Baltimore prosecu.
tors. Together, both offices asked
the court to free Lamar Johnson
After more than 13 years, Johnson
was a free man. Police have
reopened the investigation to find
Lamar Johnson exonerated by the
Sawyer's killer.
Innocence Project after 13 years in prison

Explain how faulty evidence had impacted on this case?