Mischelle Lawless Murder: Kezer Exoneration and Leon Lamb Indictment

The Mischelle Lawless murder is a 1992 southeast Missouri killing that produced one of the state’s most notorious wrongful convictions and, more than three decades later, a new indictment against the victim’s former boyfriend. Angela Mischelle Lawless, 19, was beaten and shot to death in the early hours of November 8, 1992. A 17-year-old named Joshua Kezer was convicted of her murder in 1994, spent nearly 16 years in prison, and was exonerated in 2009 after a judge found prosecutors had hidden evidence. In December 2024, a Scott County grand jury indicted Leon Lamb, Lawless’s former boyfriend, for the killing. His trial is scheduled for February 22, 2027.

What Happened to Mischelle Lawless

Around 1:30 a.m. on November 8, 1992, Scott County reserve deputy Rick Walter arrived at the top of exit ramp 77 off Interstate 55 near Benton, Missouri, after a man named Mark Abbott reported finding a car with its lights on and engine running. Inside the 1986 Buick Somerset was Lawless’s body.¹

She had been struck on the head twice and shot three times in the back of the head. Grass on her clothing and a blood trail running roughly 100 feet down an embankment suggested she had been beaten outside the car, then placed back inside and shot. Technicians recovered finger and palm prints, hair, blood, and three .380-caliber shell casings. Tissue and blood under her fingernails indicated she had clawed her attacker.¹

The Wrongful Conviction of Joshua Kezer

Joshua Kezer was 17 when he was arrested on February 27, 1993, and charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.² His trial took place in St. Genevieve County in June 1994. On June 17, 1994, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder, and that August he was sentenced to 60 years.¹

No physical evidence tied Kezer to the crime. No blood, no fingerprints, no weapon. The prosecution’s case, led by special prosecutor Kenny Hulshof of the Missouri Attorney General’s office, rested on jailhouse informants, eyewitness identifications, and circumstantial claims.²

The problems ran deep. Several inmates at the Cape Girardeau County Jail testified Kezer had confessed to them; at least two recanted before trial, and a written recantation from one was never turned over to the defense. Mark Abbott, who reported finding the body, initially described the driver of a suspicious white hatchback as possibly Latino, then identified Kezer, who is Caucasian, in a photo lineup, and in a separate interview ten days after the murder identified the driver as a Black man from Sikeston. That interview report was never disclosed.¹

Deputy Brenda Schiwitz had kept a notebook flagging Abbott himself as a possible suspect and questioning his account. Prosecutors said the notebook had been destroyed. It was later recovered intact at the courthouse, and Schiwitz testified in a 2008 deposition that she had given the notes to Hulshof and his investigator.³ Stains on a jacket belonging to Kezer, presented as possible blood evidence, later tested as tomato juice.² A trial witness named Chantelle Crider, who testified Kezer had insulted Lawless at a party, later recanted; other evidence indicated Kezer had not been at the party at all.¹

In closing argument, Hulshof told jurors prosecutors had placed Kezer at the scene, put a gun in his hand, connected him to the victim, and found blood on his clothes. Judge Richard Callahan later wrote that “none of what Mr. Hulshof said in that final summary was true.”⁴

How Kezer Was Exonerated

Rick Walter, the reserve deputy who had first arrived at the car in 1992, was elected sheriff of Scott County in 2004. He had long doubted the original investigation, and in 2006 ordered a formal reinvestigation over resistance from his predecessor, former Sheriff Bill Ferrell, who considered the case closed.⁵

In November 2007, University of Missouri School of Journalism faculty and students published an investigation in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch surfacing Abbott’s earlier statements implicating others.¹ Attorneys Charlie Weiss, Steve Snodgrass, and Jim Wyrsch of Bryan Cave took Kezer’s case pro bono and filed a habeas corpus petition in April 2008.⁶

DNA testing of tissue from under Lawless’s fingernails excluded Kezer. On February 17, 2009, Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan vacated the conviction after a two-day hearing, finding the case met the standard of actual innocence and that no reasonable juror would have convicted Kezer had the withheld information been disclosed. Callahan singled out Sheriff Walter as the “only bright note” in the case. Charges were dismissed the next day, and Kezer walked out after nearly 16 years in prison.⁶²

Kezer later settled a federal lawsuit against Scott County, Ferrell, and Schiwitz for $4 million, with payment received in August 2010.⁷ Hulshof, who by then had served six terms in Congress and been the 2008 Republican nominee for governor of Missouri, said he stood by the jury verdict.³

The Cold Case Reopened

Kezer’s exoneration left the murder unsolved. Sheriff Walter kept working the case, and in 2011 Kezer donated $10,000 toward the investigation.⁸ In October 2013, with the family’s permission and a court order, Walter had Lawless’s body exhumed to examine wounds on her hands that had never been properly tested and to try to recover more DNA. Samples were sent to forensic specialists in the Netherlands.⁹

Multiple people came under scrutiny. During Kezer’s exoneration proceedings, witnesses testified under oath that Mark Abbott and a friend, Kevin Williams, either confessed to the murder or implicated one another, and Abbott’s DNA was found on an area of Lawless’s body that contradicted his account of simply discovering the car.¹⁰ Grand jury proceedings in 2017 and 2018 focused on Abbott, Williams, and others but produced no indictments.⁸

In July 2023, a judge approved the appointment of a special prosecutor. Allen Moss was formally appointed in June 2024 and ran an 18-month investigation.¹¹¹²

The Indictment of Leon Lamb

On December 20, 2024, a Scott County grand jury indicted Leon Lamb, then 52 and living in Arkansas, on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.¹² Lamb was Lawless’s former boyfriend and one of the last people known to have seen her alive.⁸

Lamb’s DNA was reportedly found under Lawless’s fingernails. Lamb has said this was the result of a sexual encounter. He had been linked to the physical evidence early in the investigation but was not charged until the 2024 indictment.¹³ Arrested in Conway, Arkansas, he initially fought extradition before waiving it in February 2025. He was returned to the Scott County jail on February 7, 2025, and appeared in court three days later, where his attorney Russ Oliver entered a plea of not guilty.¹⁴

Where the Case Stands Now

The armed criminal action count was dismissed on February 21, 2025, after the defense successfully argued the statute of limitations had run. Only the first-degree murder charge remains.⁸ The defense also won a change of venue from Scott County to Greene County to reduce the effect of local coverage, and Lamb was granted a $100,000 bond on February 24, 2025. Retired Judge Ben Lewis was appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to preside.¹⁵ Oliver’s separate attempt to remove Special Prosecutor Moss, arguing the elected Scott County prosecutor should be handling the case, was denied.¹¹

An unusual conflict has emerged around Lamb’s co-counsel, Charles Weiss, who had previously represented Kezer in the fight for his exoneration. Prosecutors moved to disqualify Weiss on the grounds that Kezer is now a material witness in the prosecution of Lamb.¹⁶ In June 2026, Kezer disclosed that he had secretly recorded a June 2024 meeting lasting more than three hours, attended by Kezer, Moss, a detective, Weiss, former Sheriff Walter, and a member of Kezer’s former legal team. Kezer said he taped the meeting because he was “increasingly concerned about the direction” of the investigation and believed the effort was being built around a “predetermined conclusion against Lamb.” The defense responded that Weiss’s earlier work involved the exoneration, not the original trial, and that Kezer cannot be retried for the murder, so no conflict exists. A hearing was held on June 1, 2026, with a ruling to follow.¹⁷

Judge Lewis has set a target trial date of February 22, 2027. Attorneys on both sides expect the trial to last about three weeks, and the defense is challenging the admissibility of certain key testimony.¹⁸

1
Innocence Project. Joshua Kezer
2
ABC News. Man Freed After Spending Half His Life Behind Bars for Murder He Did Not Commit
3
Courthouse News Service. Judge Says Prosecutor-Politico Hid Evidence, Orders Man Freed After 14 Years in Prison
4
Columbia Tribune. Questions Raised About Hulshof’s Prosecutorial Record
5
Columbia Missourian. Scott County Sheriff Frees Man Previously Charged With Murder
6
University of Missouri School of Journalism. Missouri Journalism Student Documents Wrongful Conviction
7
Southeast Missourian. Source Says Kezer Settlement Was $4 Million
8
Southeast Missourian. Mischelle Lawless
9
Columbia Missourian. Body of 1992 Missouri Homicide Victim Exhumed
10
Southeast Missourian. State Defends Lies Detective Used to Obtain Witness Testimony Against Lamb in Lawless Murder Case
11
KFVS12. Judge: Special Prosecutor Will Stay on Lawless Murder Case
12
KY3. Arkansas Man Charged in Connection With Lawless Murder
13
KBSI23. Lawyers and Family Call for the Absolute Truth to Come Out in Mischelle Lawless Murder Case
14
KFVS12. Man Charged With Murder of Mischelle Lawless Brought Back to Scott County
15
Southeast Missourian. Leon Lamb Receives Bond; Mischelle Lawless Murder Case Moves to Greene County
16
KFVS12. Judge to Rule on Bid to Disqualify Defense Lawyer in Lawless Murder Case
17
Southeast Missourian. Prosecutor: Kezer’s Role as Witness Should Disqualify Lamb’s Attorney; Exoneree Says He Recorded Meeting
18
Daily American Republic. Judge Sets Target Date for Lamb Trial; Lawyers Expect It to Last Three Weeks