Johnny Briscoe - Imprisonment and Exoneration

Imprisonment and Exoneration

Briscoe spent five months in a cell adjacent to Larry Smith whom he confronted and accused of framing him. Smith denied the allegation. Briscoe's wife divorced him 10 years into the sentence.

Briscoe requested that evidence from the crime scene be tested for DNA but the St. Louis District Attorney refused. In 1997 Briscoe's motion to compel the District Attorney to search for DNA evidence was rejected.

In 2000, Centurion Ministries took the case, and, that year and again in 2001, requested that the St. Louis Crime Laboratory search for DNA evidence. The Lab responded that the evidence collected could not be found and was probably destroyed.

In 2004, however, the cigarettes from the crime scene were found in an inventory, but the district attorney was not informed until July 6, 2006. Testing proved that Larry Smith was the criminal, not Briscoe, and Briscoe was freed on July 19.