Joshua C. Kezer

Joshua C. Kezer spent 16 years in prison as an innocent man, wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for the 1992 murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless. 10 of his years wrongfully convicted were spent in the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri, once infamously named or described as "the bloodiest 47 acres in America'' by Time magazine. Josh was convicted because just about everything that could go wrong in the American criminal justice system went wrong: snitch witnesses were coached by law enforcement to lie, his alibi wasn't investigated, identical twins weren't properly processed and investigated, exculpatory evidence was withheld, law enforcement officers deliberately perjured themselves during his trial, and an unscrupulous prosecutor knowingly told obvious lies and used false testimony that had been recanted. Prior to being convicted of murder and sentenced to a combined 60 years in prison, Josh faced lethal injection. He was wrongfully imprisoned from the age of 18 to 34. In 2009, he became the first man in the history of the state of Missouri to be given an Amrine actual innocence ruling. His historic ruling has assisted other innocence cases. Since Josh's exoneration and release, he's successfully assisted in the exonerations of other innocent men, and has gotten involved in anti-sex trafficking. He believes there are similarities between wrongful incarceration and sex trafficking, and believes in fighting to end all modern forms of slavery. His story has been featured on 48 hours Mystery, On the Case with Paula Zahn, and The 700 Club. His story has been covered on popular podcasts including but not limited to The Lawless Files with Bob Miller and Crime Junky with Ashley Flowers. Josh is currently working with several Missouri attorneys and elected officials on informant statute reform he and his attorney Charlie Weiss believe would safeguard others from common and preventable abuses in the American justice system. Josh can be found on Twitter as @joshkezer, Instagram as @josh_kezer, and on his Facebook page as Josh Kezer. In his 2009 decision to exonerate and release Josh, Judge Richard G. Callahan wrote, "There is little about this case which recommends our criminal justice system. The system failed in the investigative and charging stage, it failed at trial, it failed at the post trial review, and it failed during the appellate process. The only bright note is the Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter who, after being elected sheriff, reopened the investigation. Largely through his efforts, along with those of Petitioner’s counsel, is the system finally righting itself with respect to Josh Kezer. Tragically for the family of Mischelle Lawless, the real killer or killers remain at large."