New book to revisit wrongful conviction in Lawless murder case

A new book examining the injustice that sent Josh Kezer to prison for the 1992 murder of Angela "Mischelle" Lawless will be published in May.

Kezer, who was charged with Lawless' murder in March of 1993, was exonerated in 2009 with a rare "actual innocence" ruling.

The book, titled "The Murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless: An honest sheriff and the exoneration of an innocent man," is authored by Stephen Snodgrass, one of Kezer's attorneys, who has since played a role in the Missouri exonerations of David Robinson, from Sikeston, and Donald "Doc" Nash, from Salem.

Kezer played a major role in writing the book, which covers material never before published.

Kezer said the book will "obliterate the assumption" that there's nothing more to be said about the case, beyond what's been reported thus far.

"It will invite the reader into facts previously unknown, and into what I've come to refer to as the community of the case," Kezer said. "'The Murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless' will answer unanswered questions, unmask Mischelle's killers, expose corrupt law enforcement, offer the reader the opportunity to sift through the facts as they happened and come to their own conclusions; reveal uncharged felonies, and leave the reader wanting more, particularly from the Scott County Missouri Prosecutor's Office."

Kezer said suspects and law enforcement involved in the original investigation "aren't going to be enthused about the release of this book," adding it "takes the gloves off."

Snodgrass said he began writing the book in collaboration with fellow attorney Charles Weiss, but as time went on, Snodgrass shouldered the writing, leaning heavily on Kezer to share his experiences.

"I'm grateful to Josh," Snodgrass said. "One, for opening up to me and improving the book tremendously. But also for introducing me to Mischelle's younger sister and mother. The book would have been incomplete without the family's blessing."

Snodgrass also gave credit to Kezer's advocate, Jane Williams. Snodgrass said he and his colleagues at Bryan Cave Law Firm would never have picked up the case had Williams not intervened on Kezer's behalf.

The book's title references former sheriff Rick Walter, who was also instrumental in the exoneration. Unbeknownst to Kezer's attorneys during the early phase of their investigation, Walter reopened the case and found documents that should have been handed over to the defense at trial. Walter's department examined Kezer and ruled him out as a suspect while uncovering evidence implicating other suspects in the murder.

Legal scrutiny

In addition to including Kezer's perspectives from prison and at different phases of the trial, the book examines the case from a legal perspective, scrutinizing the questionable and unethical practices that convicted Kezer. A Ste. Genevieve jury found Kezer guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in June of 1994. Kezer was delivered two 30-year sentences.

No physical evidence placed Kezer at the scene, and Kezer had several witnesses who placed him in Kankakee, Illinois, within two hours of the time of the murder. Kankakee, where Kezer was living at the time, is roughly a 5-hour drive from Benton, Missouri.

When asked what he hopes is accomplished by the book, Snodgrass said, "I guess to really get people to understand how messed up the American legal system is." Snodgrass said the system failed at many levels, with so many moments of injustice, particularly in the investigative phase, that it's hard to single out just one or two. "There was so much corruption. Josh never really should have been charged in the first place."

Jailhouse informants

Kezer was largely convicted on the false testimony of jailhouse informants, all of whom saw their sentences reduced after giving statements. One of the original informants testified for Kezer's defense in the trial, saying the story was made up by inmates looking to negotiate deals for leniency on various felony charges.

Snodgrass said once witnesses housed in the Cape Girardeau County Jail began recanting their stories, then-sheriff Bill Ferrell coerced informants in Scott County Jail to make false claims that Kezer "confessed" to the crime.

Snodgrass said charges should never have been filed against Kezer, but that prosecutors should have at least dropped the charges against Kezer once jailhouse informants began recanting their statements. The informants were not given polygraphs.

In addition to his involvement in the book, Kezer is hoping to push for legislation that would place more limits and repercussions on jailhouse informants, which is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. Snodgrass said at the very least, no case should rely solely on jailhouse informants, and all interactions should be captured on a recording device (only one interview was recorded in the original Lawless murder investigation). Kezer said he would like to see more teeth added to existing laws regarding perjury. Decades-old law makes perjury in a capital murder case a Class A felony, but no such cases have ever been brought to trial. Kezer said he believes exonerations that involved jailhouse informants should automatically trigger a perjury investigation.

Recanted testimony

Before Kezer was put on trial, multiple informants made statements to one of Kezer's attorneys, either recanting their statements or saying they were coerced by investigators.

Kezer's attorney, David Rosener, took statements and had them witnessed and signed by prison guards as witnesses. But he conducted the interviews alone and did not record them. This process allowed openings for the informants to undo their recanted statements, claiming Rosener threatened them by saying Kezer had connections to gang members who could harm them in prison.

Appointed special prosecutor Kenny Hulshof took this story a step further and essentially disqualified Rosener from testifying, meaning Kezer's attorneys could offer no defense regarding the informants' claims of intimidation, which would be a federal crime. And because the defense agreed Rosener would not testify, Rosener couldn't be called on to correct other timing issues regarding Kezer's whereabouts on the night of the murder. Rosener at the time was fresh out of law school, working under Al Lowes, a veteran criminal defense attorney. Rosener served as an investigator for Kezer's defense.

Snodgrass said Kezer's defense made several errors that aided in the injustice, but the handling of the informant interviews and its response to the motion to disqualify were two of the biggest.

Mark Abbott testimony

Kezer's case was also marred by the testimony of identical twin Mark Abbott, who said he came upon the victim the night of the murder. He picked Kezer out of a lineup, and testified in court that he saw Josh Kezer driving a white car in a parking lot near the crime scene as Abbott was allegedly trying to call 911. Months before identifying Kezer in a lineup, however, Abbott identified a mixed-race man he said he met at a party earlier the night of the murder, as the man he saw near the payphone. That report, which he made to a Scott City police officer, was withheld from the defense.

Snodgrass called this discovery "another piece to the puzzle" that bolstered their proof of what's called a Brady violation, meaning the state illegally withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense.

The document, attached to a notebook that listed Mark Abbott as a suspect during a law enforcement briefing days after the murder, was found many years later by Walter. Walter is currently the police chief in Scott City.

In the more modern history of the case, Abbott has been identified as one of the murder suspects, having told many inconsistent and contradictory stories under oath, with additional statements made by witnesses in court that Abbott confessed to playing a role in the murder.

In 1997, while waiting in prison for sentencing in a federal methamphetamine case, Mark Abbott told a narcotics officer he saw his friend Kevin Williams kill Lawless, a complete contradiction to Abbott's 1992 testimony against Kezer.

Abbott confessed in 2008 under oath that he could have been mistaken about identifying Kezer as the person in the car, as well as the car itself. Abbott denies making the statement about Kevin Williams to the narcotics officer and denies making a statement to the Scott City officer identifying the mixed-race man.

Another witness, Chantelle Crider, stepped forward on the fourth day of trial, saying it had just occurred to her that she saw Kezer and Lawless arguing at a Halloween party a week before the murder. Crider testified in 2008 that she had wrongly identified Kezer as another man at the party. Two women who organized the party came forward days after Kezer's conviction to say that Kezer did not attend the party.

Mischelle Lawless

Mischelle Lawless was a 19-year-old nursing student at Southeast Missouri State University, living in Benton with her parents and two younger siblings on Highway 77. Lawless was a member of Unity Baptist Church, was a waitress at Shoney's in Sikeston and volunteered at a local hospital. Around 1:20 a.m. on Nov. 8, 1992, she was found dead in her maroon Buick on the Interstate 55 exit ramp at Benton, less than a mile from her home. A blood trail and disturbed grass showed that Lawless had exited her car and engaged in a struggle at the bottom of the embankment. Lawless was found in the driver's seat of her car and shot three times with lacerations on her head, where she'd been struck by a blunt object. Lawless had dated multiple men around the time of her murder. No mention of the name Josh was found in her diary.

The book, Kezer said, is "​​meant to honor the memory of Mischelle Lawless and the Lawless family and friends that have waited for this story to be told. ... The intent of this book isn't to entertain, but to walk the reader through the Machiavellian injustice that unceremoniously discarded Mischelle Lawless's right to a law-abiding and ethical investigation and despised my constitutional rights."

A grand jury was called in 2017, but the jury did not come forward with indictments. Reporting by the Southeast Missourian and KFVS-12 showed that several key witnesses and experts were not called as part of the hearings.

Status of case

In January of 2022, then-Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Amanda Oesch asked for the Missouri Attorney General's Cold Case Unit as well as the Missouri State Highway Patrols Division of Drug and Crime Control to take over jurisdiction on the case. Don Cobb narrowly defeated Oesch in an election and began his term on Jan. 1.

In May of 2022, Mark Abbott was arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court ruled Abbott was a flight risk and denied bond. A change of plea hearing in that case is set for Feb. 22.

Book pre-orders

"The Murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless: An honest sheriff and the exoneration of an innocent man," is coming out May 15. The book can be preordered by going to www.rowman.com/ISBN/9781538172070/. It is being published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

(Editor's note: Bob Miller hosts and produces a podcast, "The Lawless Files", that examines the Mischelle Lawless murder. The podcast is not affiliated with The Southeast Missourian. Historical information for this article originated with Southeast Missourian reporting.)