JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Supreme Court has sided with a St. Louis County man who challenged his 1996 murder conviction, ordering that he be released from prison within 30 days unless prosecutors decide to retry the case.
Lawrence Callanan, convicted in 1996 of the murder of John M. Schuh, sought his freedom by filing a writ of habeas corpus. His court fight has lasted five years, Post-Dispatch columnist Tony Messenger wrote in March.
Chief Justice George W. Draper III, in the order issued Friday, said Callanan “has met the burden of proof necessary to establish” his “claims that the state concealed favorable, material evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland.”
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Lawrence Callanan. Photo provided.
The landmark Brady case, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963, requires prosecutors to turn over all evidence that might exonerate a defendant to his or her attorneys.
“Mr. Callanan’s convictions are set aside, and this Court orders Mr. Callanan released 30 days from the date of this order unless the state elects to retry him in relation to the offenses for which he was convicted,” Draper said.
In 1996, then-St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch said the evidence against Callanan was “clear, convincing and overwhelming as to his guilt.” But current Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, who replaced McCulloch, wrote a letter to the court supporting Callanan.
“We are deeply concerned by the prosecutorial misconduct that occurred during Mr. Callanan’s 1996 trial,” Bell wrote. “Mr. Callanan’s conviction rested entirely on circumstantial evidence … The prosecution was based upon a theory of ’exclusive opportunity’ that hinged on the testimony of a lone and uncorroborated witness …”
That witness, Bell said, actually told the prosecutor who handled the case, Dan Diemer, that she saw two cars leaving the scene of the crime. Diemer instructed her not to tell anybody about the second car, and he never disclosed the exculpatory evidence to the defense.
“Compounding this error, having instructed her to lie, the prosecutor then repeatedly vouched for her credibility,” Bell wrote. “Were it not for the prosecutor’s egregious misconduct in this case, Mr. Callanan would not have been convicted. Such misconduct is not tolerated by this office.”
At the time of his conviction, Callanan was the 20-year-old son of two generations of union officials, who were suspected of having organized crime ties.
Lawrence Callanan blamed prosecutors for targeting him because of “events that took place before I was born” and has maintained his innocence.
A special master appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court, Judge Gael D. Wood, ruled earlier this year that Callanan’s conviction should be vacated “due to the egregious Brady violation by the prosecutor.”
In his 116-page report, Wood didn’t determine that Callanan met the legal standard for proving his “actual innocence” but said the verdict was “not worthy of confidence.”
