Kezer's side questions court tactics

As the clock ticks down to Monday's court hearing that could be the first step toward undoing the murder conviction of Joshua Kezer, Kezer's original defense attorneys are questioning some of the tactics used by the prosecution at the time.

A potential violation in court law that prohibits prosecutors from knowingly or unknowingly keeping evidence from the defense will be at the center of Kezer's fate starting Monday. A police report in which the key witness had earlier identified another suspect by name was not handed over to the defense.

U.S. Rep. Ken Hulshof, who is campaigning for governor, tried and won the case without any physical evidence connecting Kezer to the killing of Angela Mischelle Lawless at the exit ramp of Interstate 55 in Benton, Mo. Lawless, a 19-year-old nursing student, was found shot to death.

Fingerprints and DNA found at the scene did not match Kezer, and several witnesses -- some of whom were prisoners trying to negotiate lesser prison sentences -- changed their stories over the course of the trial.

Hulshof said he wasn't aware of the report in question in which Mark Abbott told then-Scott City police officer Bobby Wooten that he saw another man at the crime scene that night. Abbott later identified Kezer out of a picture lineup.

In 1994, Kezer was represented by Al Lowes and David Rosener. Rosener was just out of law school, a rookie trying his first case three days after getting out of law school. Lowes was a seasoned lawyer who handled all of the courtroom work.

On Friday, Rosener accused Hulshof of making false accusations in front of the jury in an attempt to divert the jury's attention away from the inconsistent testimony of a key witness.

Outraged by comment

Hulshof claimed in court, and later in an interview, that Rosener's conduct became an issue, alleging Rosener threatened Shawn Mangus, a jailhouse informant in the case.

Mangus gave a statement implicating Kezer but later signed a sworn statement for Rosener recanting, saying he concocted the story, along with Charles Weissinger and another inmate, in exchange for time off his own sentence.

Rosener said he was outraged by the comment about his conduct, especially because, he said, Hulshof told him during the trial the comment was a "trial tactic" to divert the jury's attention from Mangus' recantation.

"It was masterfully done. He was the sharpest prosecutor I ever faced," Rosener said.

According to the trial transcripts, Mangus reverted to his original story, claiming Rosener threatened him, and adding that Kezer had friends who would hurt him in jail.

"Why in the world would I threaten a witness?" Rosener said.

Rosener said after he spoke with Weissinger and Weissinger admitted the lie, he confronted Mangus, and Mangus agreed they had made up the story.

Rosener realizes now that he put himself in a "precarious position" by not taking a tape recorder or a witness when he went to speak with Mangus, he said.

A letter Mangus wrote to Weissinger corroborates Rosener's account, saying that he feared getting charged with obstruction of justice.

Hulshof said he does not recall where the information about Rosener's conduct came from, other than recent Southeast Missourian articles referring to Mangus' testimony. None of those articles mention Rosener by name.

Though neither is involved in the current court proceedings, Rosener and Lowes both strongly maintain their client's innocence.

Rosener said the verdict plagued him for years.

"It made a tremendous impact on my life, having your first case, and an innocent man gets 60 years," he said Friday.

Lowes said he hopes the truth will eventually come out. "Somebody brutally murdered that girl, but it sure wasn't Josh Kezer," Lowes said.

As for the report where Mark Abbott identified another suspect two weeks before pointing out Kezer, Lowes said that information would have played a major role in the case. Lowes said the effect of the report would have been "absolutely devastating" to Abbott's credibility.

"I never knew anything about that till they stirred this up. That's the shocking thing," Lowes said.

Hulshof said he and his investigator tried hard to "shake Abbott from his story" because they knew his credibility would be challenged aggressively by the defense.

"Never during any part of the case did any statement come out other than the one he gave us. He testified consistently throughout the trial," Hulshof said.

Court records and police reports show, however, that Abbott gave at least five different descriptions of the people and the vehicle he saw that night.

Abbott claims that police, not he, changed his story. He recently filed a motion with the Cole County Circuit Court asking to take a polygraph test in connection to the Kezer case. In a letter to the Southeast Missourian, he admitted he might have made a mistake in identifying Kezer.

Kezer's alibi

Some in Kezer's camp are questioning the prosecution's diligence. While on one hand Hulshof went to great lengths to protect recanted testimony, they question why Kezer's alibi was so readily dismissed.

Kezer's alibi presented at trial -- that he was at home in Kankakee, Ill., at the time -- came under fire from Hulshof, who said recently his investigator went to Kankakee to question the alibi witnesses and found "pitfalls" in the alibi.

"It was a quasi-alibi," Hulshof said.

But no reports were found documenting the interviews done by Hulshof's investigator. Scott Baker, spokesman for Hulshof's office, said they were done and did not have to be filed with the court.

Because DNA and fingerprints never connected Kezer to the crime, Kezer's current attorneys, Charles Weiss and Stephen Snodgrass, filed a motion Friday asking the court to order that blood samples found at the crime scene be entered into CODIS, a national database containing DNA samples of convicted felons.

"There is a strong possibility that one of these DNA samples came from an individual who had some involvement in the murder, either as a participant or a witness to the crime," the motion said.

Another motion was filed Friday requesting ballistics evidence in the case be examined and compared to bullets seized from a 1994 New Madrid, Mo., homicide that resulted in the conviction of and death sentence for Richard Clay, who is awaiting execution. Witnesses have come forward suggesting the same .380-caliber gun was used to commit both killings. Walter said in 2006 he received information from the Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Lab that the bullets were similar enough to warrant further testing.

Recently, crime lab officials told the Southeast Missourian the bullets do not match, based on review of the same reports as in 2006.

"Given this conflicting information, comparison of the bullets under a microscope by a ballistics expert is necessary to either prove or disprove definitely that the bullets were fired from the same gun," the motion said.

For the past two years, the Scott County Sheriff's Department, the Bryan Cave law firm and a private investigator in Cape Girardeau County have reinterviewed witnesses and reviewed evidence in Kezer's case.

Several pieces of new evidence have surfaced, none of which link to Kezer to the crime. He is serving a 60-year sentence.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter reopened the case in 2006 because he believed someone other than Kezer was responsible for the murder.

Hulshof is still convinced Kezer committed the murder.

"I was passionate in closing argument, I was convinced -- am convinced -- that Joshua Kezer's guilty," Hulshof said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245

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Audio: Kenny Hulshof on Joshua Kezer

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