Jackson County prosecutor dismisses murder charge, man to be released from Licking, Mo. prison
LICKING, Mo. (KY3/AP) - Prosecutors say they won’t seek to retry a Kansas City man after the Missouri Supreme Court overturned his conviction because the case is “tainted from all directions.”
Keith Carnes is being held in the South Central Correctional Center in Licking. He’s been in prison since 2006 after a jury convicted him of killing a man in Kansas City. He’s always maintained he didn’t do it.
The Jackson County prosecutor’s office said in a statement Friday that there is insufficient evidence to prove that Carnes fatally shot a rival drug dealer, 24-year-old Larry White, in 2003 in a Kansas City parking garage.
Earlier this week, the Missouri Supreme Court threw out the conviction after some witnesses recanted their testimony. The prison has up to a month to release Carnes, and it’s possible he could be released at any time this weekend. Though his family doesn’t want to wait any longer.
“We’ve been through enough,” said Eve Moffatt, the mother of Keith Carnes. “He’s proven himself not guilty. so why hold my son any longer?”
The state supreme court ruled the prosecution team failed to disclose material evidence. The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office stressed that the case remains under investigation, adding that witnesses indicated that there was a second person present when White was killed.
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