Stephen R Snodgrass's Blog
May 8, 2023
The Murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless
I received a Ph.D. in psychology from Johns Hopkins and taught for four years at the State University of New York in Brockport. After teaching, I started law school at Washington University in St. Louis and graduated in 1980. I have been practicing law since 1980 at a large international law firm called Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.
The book is about Josh Kezer, the first of three convicted murderers that I, along with others at Bryan Cave, have been able to get released from Missouri prisons. The murder happened in 1992, and Josh spent 16 years behind bars.
The murder was especially brutal. The victim was shot three times - in the face, the back of the head, and the back - and was beaten on the head before she was shot. Mischelle - most people knew her by her middle name -was a pretty and popular girl who was not someone you would expect to be murdered. Josh did not know her and was not even in southeast Missouri at the time. He was convicted because just about everything that could go wrong in the American criminal justice system went wrong: Snitch witnesses who were coached by law enforcement to lie; withheld exculpatory evidence; a lying identical twin who claimed he found the body but may have been one of the murderers; a last minute witness who sat through the trial and may have been coached by the sheriff at the time to identify Josh as someone she saw harassing the victim at a Halloween party a week before the victim’s murder; and an unscrupulous prosecutor, Kenny Hulshof, who went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Congress and just prior to the habeas hearing lost an election for Missouri Governor.
The book is written "with" Josh Kezer, but that is not the full story of his contribution. He improved the book tremendously. I am particularly indebted to Josh for opening up to me about his prison experience and for introducing me to Mischelle's sister and mother. I always thought the book would not be complete without the family's blessing, and Josh allowed me to get that.
The book is available from the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield and on Amazon. The title is The Murder of Angela Mischelle Law: An Honest Sheriff and the Exoneration of an Innocent Man. Check it out at either Amazon.com or on the publisher's website, Rowman & Littlefield.
The book is about Josh Kezer, the first of three convicted murderers that I, along with others at Bryan Cave, have been able to get released from Missouri prisons. The murder happened in 1992, and Josh spent 16 years behind bars.
The murder was especially brutal. The victim was shot three times - in the face, the back of the head, and the back - and was beaten on the head before she was shot. Mischelle - most people knew her by her middle name -was a pretty and popular girl who was not someone you would expect to be murdered. Josh did not know her and was not even in southeast Missouri at the time. He was convicted because just about everything that could go wrong in the American criminal justice system went wrong: Snitch witnesses who were coached by law enforcement to lie; withheld exculpatory evidence; a lying identical twin who claimed he found the body but may have been one of the murderers; a last minute witness who sat through the trial and may have been coached by the sheriff at the time to identify Josh as someone she saw harassing the victim at a Halloween party a week before the victim’s murder; and an unscrupulous prosecutor, Kenny Hulshof, who went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Congress and just prior to the habeas hearing lost an election for Missouri Governor.
The book is written "with" Josh Kezer, but that is not the full story of his contribution. He improved the book tremendously. I am particularly indebted to Josh for opening up to me about his prison experience and for introducing me to Mischelle's sister and mother. I always thought the book would not be complete without the family's blessing, and Josh allowed me to get that.
The book is available from the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield and on Amazon. The title is The Murder of Angela Mischelle Law: An Honest Sheriff and the Exoneration of an Innocent Man. Check it out at either Amazon.com or on the publisher's website, Rowman & Littlefield.
The Murder of Angela Mischelle Lawless
I received a Ph.D. in psychology from Johns Hopkins and taught for four years at the State University of New York in Brockport. After teaching, I started law school at Washington University in St. Louis and graduated in 1980. I have been practicing law since 1980 at a large international law firm called Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.
The book is about Josh Kezer, the first of three convicted murderers that I, along with others at Bryan Cave, have been able to get released from Missouri prisons. The murder happened in 1992, and Josh spent 16 years behind bars.
The murder was especially brutal. The victim was shot three times - in the face, the back of the head, and the back - and was beaten on the head before she was shot. Mischelle - most people knew her by her middle name -was a pretty and popular girl who was not someone you would expect to be murdered. Josh did not know her and was not even in southeast Missouri at the time. He was convicted because just about everything that could go wrong in the American criminal justice system went wrong: Snitch witnesses who were coached by law enforcement to lie; withheld exculpatory evidence; a lying identical twin who claimed he found the body but may have been one of the murderers; a last minute witness who sat through the trial and may have been coached by the sheriff at the time to identify Josh as someone she saw harassing the victim at a Halloween party a week before the victim’s murder; and an unscrupulous prosecutor, Kenny Hulshof, who went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Congress and just prior to the habeas hearing lost an election for Missouri Governor to Jay Nixon.
The book is written "with" Josh Kezer, but that is not the full story of his contribution. He improved the book tremendously. I am particularly indebted to Josh for opening up to me about his prison experience and for introducing me to Mischelle's sister and mother. I always thought the book would not be complete without the family's blessing, and Josh allowed me to get that.
The book is available from the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield and on Amazon. The title is The Murder of Angela Mischelle Law: An Honest Sheriff and the Exoneration of an Innocent Man. Check it out at either Amazon.com or on the publisher's website, Rowman & Littlefield.
The book is about Josh Kezer, the first of three convicted murderers that I, along with others at Bryan Cave, have been able to get released from Missouri prisons. The murder happened in 1992, and Josh spent 16 years behind bars.
The murder was especially brutal. The victim was shot three times - in the face, the back of the head, and the back - and was beaten on the head before she was shot. Mischelle - most people knew her by her middle name -was a pretty and popular girl who was not someone you would expect to be murdered. Josh did not know her and was not even in southeast Missouri at the time. He was convicted because just about everything that could go wrong in the American criminal justice system went wrong: Snitch witnesses who were coached by law enforcement to lie; withheld exculpatory evidence; a lying identical twin who claimed he found the body but may have been one of the murderers; a last minute witness who sat through the trial and may have been coached by the sheriff at the time to identify Josh as someone she saw harassing the victim at a Halloween party a week before the victim’s murder; and an unscrupulous prosecutor, Kenny Hulshof, who went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Congress and just prior to the habeas hearing lost an election for Missouri Governor to Jay Nixon.
The book is written "with" Josh Kezer, but that is not the full story of his contribution. He improved the book tremendously. I am particularly indebted to Josh for opening up to me about his prison experience and for introducing me to Mischelle's sister and mother. I always thought the book would not be complete without the family's blessing, and Josh allowed me to get that.
The book is available from the publisher, Rowman & Littlefield and on Amazon. The title is The Murder of Angela Mischelle Law: An Honest Sheriff and the Exoneration of an Innocent Man. Check it out at either Amazon.com or on the publisher's website, Rowman & Littlefield.
