Man serving life sentence to be released from prison

By Jackson Hicks

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — Keith Carnes, a man who has been in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit, could be released from prison in the next month.

The Missouri Supreme Court ordered today that Carnes should be released in the next 30 days pending a retrial by the state.

“The Court concludes the petitioner, Keith Carnes, has met the burden of proof necessary to establish his “gateway cause and prejudice’ claim that the state failed to disclose material evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963 ). Mr. Carnes, therefore, is entitled to habeas corpus relief,” the court said in their ruling on Tuesday.

Carnes was sentenced to life in prison, without parole, for the 2003 murder of 24-year-old Larry White.

In 2020, Carnes’ defense team filed new evidence with the Missouri Supreme Court.

They pointed to a lack of physical evidence connecting Carnes to the crime scene, documents forged with Carnes’ signature, and recanted statements from two major witnesses.

In December 2020, the state’s high court appointed a special master to review the case.

“With DNA exonerations over the last 20 to 30 years it’s made everybody realize that there are a lot more innocent people in prison than anybody would have liked to admit, particularly prosecutors and judges,” says Kent Gipson, the attorney for Carnes.

Gipson has represented Carnes for several years and believes Carnes’ case is even stronger than Kevin Strickland’s, whose decades old triple murder conviction has caused a recent firestorm between local judges, the Jackson County prosecutor, and the Missouri Attorney General.

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office released this statement after the announcement:

“We are actively reviewing now, and we await any other information the Missouri Supreme Court sends to us.”

The Missouri Attorney General could elect to retry the case. So far, the AG’s office has not said if they will.

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