Gov. Parson, don’t let Walter Barton be a victim of Missouri AG’s prosecutors like me

In 2014, I was exonerated after spending 17 years in prison for a murder I did not commit. Like Walter Barton, who is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, I was prosecuted by a unit of lawyers within the Missouri Attorney General’s office who travel around the state prosecuting capital cases alongside or, in some cases, instead of the local county prosecutor’s office.

I am not the only person to have been wrongfully convicted because of the unit’s corrupt and unethical practices. It prosecuted Brad Jennings, Josh Kezer and Dale Helmig for murder, and all were later exonerated. Others, such as Ricky Clay and Michael Taylor, had their death sentences reversed or commuted because of the unit’s wrongdoings. Having been a victim of this prosecution team’s misconduct, I urge Gov. Mike Parson to appoint a board of inquiry to take a look at Barton’s case.

The attorney general’s unit prosecuted me at two trials and attempted a third before I was finally cleared of all charges. My first conviction was reversed because the court failed to admit — at the prosecutor’s urging — a prior inconsistent statement made by one of the prosecutor’s witnesses. My second conviction was reversed because the prosecution withheld evidence. And had it been turned over, the court noted, “no jury would have convicted” me.

That evidence revealed not only my innocence, but also the unlawful actions the unit was willing to take to secure a conviction. Included in that evidence were never-before disclosed letters between the unit prosecutor, the trial judge and the surviving victim, urging the attorney general’s office to prosecute me after the local prosecutor had decided not to pursue charges against me. The local prosecutor knew there was no case to be made.

Even the investigation itself was marred by misconduct. Unit prosecutors failed to turn over police reports implicating someone else as the perpetrator, including evidence that another suspect had violated an order of protection against the victim’s family shortly before the murder, as well as other witnesses who corroborated his guilt.

An ethical prosecutor would have viewed the suppressed evidence and the flawed and biased investigation as a deprivation of due process, leading to an unreliable and unjust conviction. But not the attorney general’s unit. Even after a special master appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court issued a searing report, finding that “there was nothing fundamentally fair” about the investigation and prosecution of my case, they attempted to prosecute me a third time. At the third trial, the judge threw out dubious evidence against me, finding “an egregious, flagrant, cavalier disregard of evidentiary procedures and process.” Ultimately, the unit’s unethical tactics caused the court to take the extraordinary step of removing the attorney general’s office from my case altogether. On July 15, 2014, after a special prosecutor — unaffiliated with the unit — was appointed to review my case, all charges were dismissed.

I understand that it took this same attorney general’s unit five attempts to convict Barton and sentence him to death. After the fourth attempt, the unit prosecutor was forced to recuse himself because of his own misconduct, which involved withholding material evidence and eliciting perjury from an informant on the stand. But, just as in my case, the unit would not do the right thing. They simply appointed another unit attorney to go after Barton again, using the same perjured snitch witness to secure his conviction.

If the attorney general’s unit had its way, I would die in prison for a crime I did not commit. The wrongful prosecutions in my case reveal what is at stake when prosecutors forgo their duty to do justice and instead focus on winning at all costs. The multiple attempts by the unit to obtain a conviction and death sentence for Barton is no different.

Gov. Parson has the power to investigate the conduct of the attorney general’s office in Barton’s case. Although I will never get back the 24 years the unit’s wrongful prosecutions stole from me, I lived to see justice done. Walter Barton deserves the same.

Mark Woodworth was exonerated in 2014 of a 1990 murder near Chillicothe, Missouri. He served 17 years for a crime he did not commit.

This story was originally published May 18, 2020 at 5:00 AM.