A St. Louis man convicted of murder in 2016 is now a free man after prosecutors dropped the charge.
Lamont Cambell walked out of the St. Louis City Justice Center on Jan. 19. St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Boyer overturned his conviction back in December after ruling that Cambell had ineffective representation. The judge also ruled that the prosecutors failed to disclose that the case’s lead investigator had been having an affair with one of the witnesses who identified Cambell.
Cambell was found guilty of the 2011 death of 29-year-old Lenny J. Gregory III. Gregory was found shot to death while sitting in his car on the 2800 block of Chariton Street in south St. Louis. Cambell was just 17 at the time and claimed his innocence. After jurors failed to come to a unanimous verdict at his trial in 2013, prosecutors retried Cambell in 2016.
Cambell was convicted at his second trial and sentenced to life in prison with the eligibility for parole after 30 years. Three witnesses, two of whom are husband and wife, claimed that Cambell was the shooter and that he had attempted to rob Gregory, the son of a retired police officer. Gregory was shot in the arm and the head.
However, the murder weapon, a .38-caliber, was never found. There was also no other physical evidence found against Cambell.
Boyer was prepared to set a new trial date, but instead, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office dismissed the charges against Cambell. The prosecutors also announced they would be conducting a new investigation into the death of Gregory.
The dismissal came as a surprise after Assistant Circuit Attorney Marvin Teer asked the judge to give him until the day’s end to propose a new trial date in April. Teer appeared to leave the courtroom to take a phone call, and when he returned a few moments later, he announced that the charges against Cambell had been dismissed.
The office of St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner released a statement noting…
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