Charlie Weiss presents at International Academy of Trial Lawyers on high profile case of an innocent man’s 28-year ordeal

BCLP Partner Charles Weiss spoke at the International Academy of Trial Lawyers meeting on March 8. Charlie alongside client Lamar Johnson, recounted the 28-year long case of Lamar’s wrongful conviction in St. Louis, Missouri, as documented on CBS’ 48 hours.

In October of 1995, despite no motive or physical evidence connecting the defendant to the crime, 20-year-old Lamar was falsely convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The work by Lamar Johnson, himself, and the Midwest Innocence Project ultimately led to the confessions from the persons who actually committed the crime, an admission from the eyewitness who falsely identified Lamar and documentation showing that both the eyewitness and jailhouse informant requested and received deals and benefits that were never disclosed to the defense. Charlie and Jonathan Potts of the firm were appointed special assistant prosecutors by the St. Louis prosecuting attorney to file and pursue a case pursuant to Missouri's innocence statute to vacate Lamar's conviction. After a weeks-long trial in December 2022, Lamar was declared innocent and his conviction was vacated on Valentines Day, 2023.

Business and Commercial Disputes Partner Charles Weiss is a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers- an invite-only group of trial lawyers representing both sides of the Bar. With more than 40 years experience in business and complex litigation, he has appeared in more than 30 federal district courts around the country and in seven circuits of the Federal Courts of Appeals, the Federal Court of Claims and the United States Supreme Court.

Charlie counsels clients on a pro bono basis who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes that they did not commit. He has obtained complete exoneration in five separate innocence cases for people who have been wrongly convicted of murder and serving long prison terms.