The Lawless Files

17/12/2025

Mark Abbott said he has not been questioned by David James.

Key witness in 1992 Mischelle Lawless killing says he has never been interviewed by the detective targeting her ex-boyfriend.

09/12/2025

There's not much detail to report here. But special prosecutor Allen Moss is delivering new discovery to the defense. Keep in mind that the state is required to hand over all evidence, including exculpatory evidence (in support of the defense) to the defense. So all lab reports, regardless of what they say, have to be turned over. It's worth noting that it is common for investigations to continue after a person has been charged of a crime. But this is a cold case over 30 years old. And Moss and his detective David James have been working this case since the summer of 2023. Leon Lamb has been under indictment for 11 months. You tell me if I'm off-base here, but it seems like almost all science-based evidence against the defense and almost all recordings and photographs would have been included in the grand jury proceedings ... and handed over to the defense by now. Having said that, remember in February that Lamb's defense team filed a motion to enter unidentified DNA profiles collected in the case into CODIS. It's possible that some of this discovery has to do with that request. I do not know. I can only report what's in the document.

26/11/2025

Here is correspondence filed by special prosecutor Allen Moss to Judge Myers in response to recent motions from Lamb's defense team. Regarding the motion to revise the condition of bond, Lamb is asking to be allowed to live near his job, which is about 45 minutes away from his sister's house. This is partly due to car problems. He's working at a family member's business while wearing an ankle monitor, which is costly. He's simply asking the court to let him live near the family member rather than with his sister while out on bond. As you might expect, it's difficult finding work when you're under indictment for murder.
Otherwise, Moss is asking for more time to respond to the motion in limine (see earlier post). He wants 30 days to file a response.
There's not a ton of news here, though on a logistical matter it's worth noting that Moss wants the evidentiary motions to be heard all at once after a trial date has been set. Moss also states that "discovery is not complete and there will be a number of depositions taken."

25/11/2025

I was doing a little research on Todd Myers, the judge who is handling Leon Lamb's case. As you may remember, the case was moved to Greene County.

I found this quote in his application for judge:

"I also serve as an advisor to law enforcement. Routinely, I am asked by law enforcement the best way to proceed with an investigation. This can involve reviewing search warrants, issuing subpoenas, and evaluating evidence. Additionally, this requires that I be available twenty-four hours a day every day. I receive phone calls during all hours of the day and night asking for assistance from law enforcement. The most difficult decisions in this capacity occur when I must explain to a law enforcement officer that criminal charges cannot be pursued because an action they took violated a suspect's rights. Thankfully, this rarely happens in Greene County, but I have had these difficult conversations."

In 2020, Judge Myers gave this quote to the Springfield Business Journal when asked why he wanted to become a judge:

"I’ve spent the last 21 years working in the Greene County prosecutor’s office. And what I always liked about being a prosecutor was that the law said the goal of a prosecutor is not to win or lose a case, but to see that justice is done. A judge has a lot of that same duty. The judge is there only to make sure that the rule of law is followed, that it’s followed consistently and that justice is done for the people in that lawsuit. The reason I wanted to do this was just to have an opportunity to continue serving the citizens of Greene County in a different capacity, but in a capacity where I felt like I might be able to do more than I had been doing as a prosecutor."

24/11/2025

This is a doozy. If the judge disqualifies the witnesses, it would severely damage the state's case against Leon Lamb.

The accusation is a big one. Leon's attorneys say that detective David James threatened a witness with murder charges if he didn't give up the information they were looking for. Before giving a statement against his cousin, the witness said: “I know what’s at stake here, and it’s not like I don’t know because my life is on the line here. I mean, it really is. I mean, I could get charged with something that I got nothing to do with.”

Leon Lamb’s attorneys claim a detective threatened a key witness with murder charges and used fake evidence to coerce testimony in the Mischelle Lawless case, seeking to disqualify two state witnesses.

09/11/2025

Today is the anniversary of Mischelle Lawless’s death. She was murdered on Nov. 8, 1992.

Her death has affected so many people in so many ways.

If you’ve listened to the podcast, you know that.

We remember Mischelle today, and her family. I’ve run out of new ways to express sorrow for her.

Another year has passed. Mischelle is still gone. Not forgotten, but gone.

Now we’re facing another trial.

Nothing about any of this is fair to the Lawless family.

My purpose for creating a podcast (and writing a book manuscript that’s never been published) has been to keep Mischelle’s case in the spotlight and to do what I can to nudge some level of accountability for her murderers, law enforcement and our justice system.

A lot has happened in the last year. Last December, as most of you know, a grand jury indicted Leon Lamb.

If you’re new to the Lawless Files, this post won’t make sense to you. You’ll need to go back and read up on the case. I’m not going to review the charges and the evidence and the exoneration and all the things that have led to this point.

For those who have been wondering whats been happening, I have been gathering information, but it’s limited.

Leon’s attorneys are working hard on Leon’s defense. They've currently decided to release information through court filings. So I have nothing new to offer other than some perspective with a look to whats coming.

As we march through what will be a very difficult court and trial process for Mischelle’s and Leon’s family, I have thoughts on what this case SHOULD look like if we are to avoid past mistakes and pitfalls.

The prosecution owes it to the Lawless family, Josh Kezer, Leon Lamb, and the tax paying public to take great care with this case. Here are three areas I’m looking for.

1. Credible witnesses and sources of information.

In order to avoid another miscarriage of justice, the state, via special prosecutor Allen Moss, must present credible witnesses and sources of information. In the case against Josh Kezer, who was later exonerated, the state’s key witness — Mark Abbott — changed his story many times, previously identified a different suspect, was close friends with another suspect — Kevin Williams, who had a shaky alibi and has told others he was at the scene when Mischelle was killed. Nearly every key “witness” in Josh’s trial recanted or or altered their testimony throughout the process. Some tried to completely recant but were coerced and pressured with additional charges if they continued to do so.

2. Convincing physical evidence.

In order to prevent another injustice, the state must provide more than hearsay or circumstantial evidence. DNA evidence and statements made against other suspects in this case create a very high bar for the prosecution to overcome. Reasonable doubt is different in this case than perhaps any other. To clear that bar I believe the state will have to provide airtight physical evidence. I know many of you think that Mark Abbott and Kevin Williams are responsible for the crime – and there are plenty of sworn statements and other evidence that points that direction. But let’s not forget that two other people with known connections to Mischelle, Lyle Day and Ray Ring, have not been ruled out either. At least not to my belief. What this means is that Leon’s defense will be able to put loads and loads of reasonable doubt before a jury. My belief is that only iron clad physical evidence will get a conviction. And I feel like that would nearly require a miracle after 30-plus years. We shall see. Lamb’s attorneys sound confident. They’re not giving any vibes that the state has provided any airtight evidence. I honestly do not believe that Charlie Weiss, who has a reputation for representing clients in innocence cases, would be involved in this if he truly thought Lamb was guilty.

3. A thorough investigation.

Det. David James, the retired Cape Girardeau county veteran who Moss hired to investigate the case, has said publicly how hard he worked on the investigation. The many people he interviewed, etc. Will the state be able to show that James and fellow Scott Co. detective Mike Williams, thoroughly investigated other suspects in the crime – and were able to clear them? I can say with confidence that James has not followed up on every lead. I have sources who say they have not been contacted. And it’s not like James doesn’t know about these individuals. I’m very intrigued to see how much work went into investigating Day, who fought with Mischelle a few days before the murder, and also Mark Abbott, the person who has claimed to have found her hanging on to life in her car on the exit ramp before reporting the crime to the sheriff’s office.

I had the opportunity to sit on a panel a couple weeks ago at Jackson High School. I was joined by several people involved in the justice system, including a federal prosecutor I’ve come to respect.

The prosecutor told the students that his job is not to win cases. It was to dispense justice. He gave an example of a case that he dropped several years ago when he realized evidence had not been properly obtained. This prosecutor is methodical, thorough, fair and humble.

Those qualities were missing during Josh’s trial. Even as witnesses were trying to recant their statements, prosecutors marched on with the case. Then they withheld evidence. They lied during closing statements.

The sheriff’s office made no attempt to interview Josh’s alibis. An officer who wanted to do so was forbidden.

The public generally distrusts law enforcement in this case, based on historically shoddy work with an overlay of corruption.

We need humility, not ego, to be driving justice in this case. We need all involved to frequently step back, analyze ALL evidence, and determine if pursuing a trial is fair. No tunnel vision. No gimmicks. No blind spots. This case desperately needs unbiased and thorough police work.

As far as I’m aware, more than a dozen detectives, troopers, sheriffs and deputies have had some level of involvement in investigating this case. Until last year, not one of them said they thought Leon Lamb killed Mischelle Lawless. Was he looked into? Of course. But not a single law enforcement officer has presented evidence in court or in records that they believe Lamb was guilty until last year.

Imagine what it will look like when Russ Oliver, a former longtime prosecutor and now one of the area’s more high-profile criminal defense attorneys, and Charlie Weiss, the innocence stalwart, present Leon Lamb’s defense. The number of Moss’s law enforcement witnesses could be far outnumbered by such detectives who testify for the defense. James and Moss are in the minority.

If the state doesn’t call rock-solid witnesses; if it doesn’t bring convincing physical evidence; and if it hasn’t done a thorough investigation of all suspects, then Moss, James and their team will surely lose the case.

Which would again add to the harm inflicted on the Lawless family and everyone who cared about Mischelle.

31/10/2025

The Scott City Police Department is the third law enforcement agency that has not provided a full, original incident report relating to this case.
Four months after Shelby Perrien's death, the case is still being investigated and has not been determined as a su***de or homicide.

A third law enforcement agency is withholding key details about the immediate response to a Scott County deputy’s wife’s shooting, raising transparency concerns as the case remains under review.

10/09/2025

They call it the Sunshine Law, partly because it is the *law*. But it appears to be a law that at least two law enforcement jurisdictions refuse to abide by.
Those who understand the difference between an incident report and an investigative report should know that one is always public record, even during an investigation, while the other is subject to closure as the state builds a case. The details of an incident report generally do not give sordid details, but rather what time the incident occurred, who responded, and where. The definitions are all laid out and defined in Section 610 of the Missouri Revised Statutes.
Indeed, this is not about sensationalizing a story, but getting the basic facts of a gun-related death, following the process of how this case was handled, since the deceased is the wife of a man who is involved in law enforcement. By denying the law and suppressing basic information that belongs to the public, it leaves people with an impression that there is something to hide.

The state Highway Patrol has denied a newspaper’s request for an incident report in the death of a deputy’s wife, prompting legal concerns over possible violations of Missouri’s open records law.

17/06/2025

On this day in 1994, Josh Kezer was wrongly convicted of the murder of Mischelle Lawless. He spent about 16 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. The Lawless Files laid out the many reasons why this injustice was done. It happened because of a terrible, unjust, incomplete investigation and a notoriously unfair trial.

In recent months, behind the scenes, Josh Kezer has worked to fight for Leon Lamb, because Kezer believes the state of Missouri has indicted a second innocent man for this crime. We're amazed that Josh continues to battle for justice in this case, when he could have walked away a long time ago.

On this day in history, it's worth remembering that Josh was wrongfully convicted because people lied. Not one or two people. But many people. Witnesses lied. Law enforcement officials lied. Prosecutors lied. This is not hyperbole. The lies are there in black and white and yet no one has been held accountable for them.

I'm reminded that before Josh went to trial, jailhouse informants came forward and tried to tell the truth and confess they'd concocted a story against Josh in exchange for sentencing leniency. And law enforcement officials, rather than pausing to re-evaluate their investigation, rather than reviewing the (non-existent) evidence and dropping the charges, they doubled down, warning these informants they could face more charges if they went through with their recanted statements. So those informants had to tell another lie to cover up the truth. They threw Kezer's then-attorney David Rosener under the bus, accusing him of threatening witnesses on Kezer's behalf. If law enforcement truly believed that, they should have charged Rosener with a felony. I believe they didn't charge Rosener, because, ultimately, they didn't believe their own witnesses. It was far more likely that inmates held in custody on felony charges would lie than a young lawyer fresh out of law school would threaten witnesses. Law enforcement used the authority of the badge to disincentivize the truth when witnesses wanted to tell it. They fought for injustice.

The system, led by powerful people, forced evidence that wasn't true and misled the jury, because they wanted a win. Truth wasn't the goal. Justice wasn't the goal. Winning was the goal. Josh paid the price. And so did Josh's parents and family. The picture with this post is one of Josh with his mother at Christmastime, before Josh was brought back to Missouri to face bogus murder charges. May she rest in peace. Fortunately, Josh was exonerated while his parents were still alive. But the wrongful conviction changed them as it did Josh.

Today, we remember Josh and recognize the pain this day caused him back in 1994, the pain it caused his family, and the scars he carries still.

And we remember why it all happened.

13/06/2025

A judge has ruled that Allen Moss was appropriately appointed as special prosecutor. This could be an item for appeal should Leon Lamb be convicted. (Please see link below for details regarding the ruling).

I wasn't surprised by the ruling. It would have been a startling decision to undo the appointment made by a previous judge.
I believe the state legislature should look at the language of the two statutes that were at play here and clarify the law. The judge said one statute applied to the appointment of special prosecutors and the other to the penalties against special prosecutors. The judge sided with Moss's interpretations of the statutes. Moss will stay on the case.

From a simple layman's perspective, I don't think Moss's involvement in defending a client in Cape Girardeau County rises to the level of disqualifying him for this case, but Lamb's attorneys made a good argument regarding a statute on the books. Regarding potential conflicts, I have more concerns about Moss's past representation of Bobby Wooten during Josh Kezer's exoneration trial than a random Cape County criminal defense case. Moss's former client, Scott City officer Wooten, took a report from Mark Abbott 10 days after the murder in 1992 about Abbott's claims of seeing Ray Ring, and not Josh Kezer, at the pay phone the night of the murder.

This report was not given to Josh's defense heading into the trial, a constitutional violation. Wooten was called to testify in 2008 about the report, and asked Moss to represent him. Before being called to testify, Wooten had made some conflicting statements to authorities. He said he thought the report was real, but didn't know if the signature at the bottom of the report was his. Under oath, Wooten made it clear that the report was legit, and handwriting experts concluded the signature was his. Wooten has since passed away.

If Lamb's defense wants to bring that report into evidence, then things could get a little tricky. Moss, who spoke up during Wooten's deposition, helped Wooten clarify the legitimacy of that report. Since Wooten is no longer living, Moss could potentially be called as a witness in Lamb's trial to validate the report his client took that put another man near the crime scene when Mischelle was murdered. The man in question, Ray Ring, was a friend of Lyle Day, initially considered a suspect. Day and Mischelle had fought publicly four days before she was killed. Wooten's testimony means that Moss, if called, might have to acknowledge that either his former client was lying or Mark Abbott was lying about the contents of that report.

To put another way: The special prosecutor in this case knows that Mark Abbott contradicted his former client's testimony regarding a key piece of eye-witness evidence in the Mischelle Lawless case. Of course Abbott, a longtime suspect in the crime, is not the person the special prosecutor is prosecuting for the murder. Moss's knowledge of Abbott's claim that his former client lied to the court about key evidence in this case seems important, though I admit it's difficult to put into words.

Do I think that Moss is colored a certain way regarding his previous representation of Wooten? No. But could he be called as a witness for the defense? I don't think it's a stretch. Testimony from Moss could show the jury that the prosecutor acknowledges one of these people perjured himself under oath, and neither of those people is Leon Lamb.

I also wonder to what extent absolute immunity would apply to a prosecutor who is called as a witness.

The Moss/Wooten/Abbott storyline is one of the endless oddities and complications this case presents. I have no indication that Lamb's team is concerned about Moss's representation of Wooten. I've asked them about it, but they've not let on whether they think it's a matter of concern or not. These are simply my thoughts on how this connection could get complicated.

I raised this issue of Moss's potential conflict with Cobb and Moss a year or two ago, long before Lamb was indicted. Cobb didn't think it rose to the level of concern. It is, after all, a small community, and attorneys represent all kinds of clients in all kinds of cases. And officially speaking, Josh's exoneration was a separate case from the criminal case against Lamb. I just remember being shocked as I was reviewing testimony and reading Moss's words in a transcript relating to this case.

In a larger sense, relating to the judge's recent decision and the defense's arguments, I do believe that the best public policy would require an elected prosecutor to publicly state the reasons for removing himself from a case. Charlie Weiss, one of Lamb's attorneys, was pushing this argument during the hearing. The prosecutor has elected authority, Weiss argued, and as such should only give up that authority for specific reasons. In this case, elected Prosecutor Donald Cobb hasn't brought on an assistant special prosecutor to help him, but asked the court to bring on a prosecutor to handle the totality of the case.

Cobb has not been involved in the case. In other cases I've covered where special prosecutors have been assigned, the local prosecutor has been involved in some capacity. Even going back to Josh Kezer's original trial, Christy Baker-Neel was involved with the trial, even though Kenny Hulshof did the bulk of the work. The current siutation is a little different, because Cobb himself didn't bring charges and then ask for a special prosecutor. He appointed Moss to develop the case. In essence, Moss oversaw an investigation, something normally done by a law enforcement agency. The detective Moss hired, David James, took the case in an entirely different direction than the investigation by former Sheriff Rick Walter and his investigators, Branden Caid and Darrin Sides.

One of the first things James did when Moss hired him was to obtain a commission from the sheriff's office. In my mind, that immediately blurred the lines of authority between Moss and the sheriff. Which brings me to this: If Cobb's reason for recusing himself for this case has to do with not bringing himself into conflict with the then-sheriff who made mistakes in the original investigation, or getting involved in a case with potential corruption from those involved in the original investigation, that conflict was reintroduced the moment David James obtained a badge from the Scott County Sheriff's Office. If the conflict was due to time and resource constraints, then Cobb should not have given up complete authority to Moss.

FWIW, I think Cobb's intentions were pure when he asked for a special prosecutor. I think he was trying to do the right thing, I really do. But frankly, I wish he had maintained some control in the decisions regarding this case.

This case is off-the-charts crazy. It will only get more so. Stay tuned.

A judge denied efforts to disqualify special prosecutor Allen Moss from the Mischelle Lawless murder case.

11/06/2025

The woman who helped try to cover up Jessi Wilfong's murder — all while her parents were desperately wondering where she was — was sentenced to 19 years in prison. This was the maximum sentence for the two charges that the state ultimately charged, which were kidnapping and tampering with physical evidence. Teresa Baumgartner protected her murderous boyfriend rather than tell authorities what he'd done to his niece.

Teresa Baumgartner received a 19-year prison sentence for kidnapping and tampering with evidence in Jessi Wilfong’s death, while a second charge was dismissed by the state.

16/05/2025

Bob's been following a story for the Southeast Missourian about a police pursuit that ended up with a fatal crash of a man on a motorcycle. Here is the latest.

A crash report reveals a Cape Girardeau officer was passing a fleeing dirtbike rider before the rider fatally collided with a parked tractor-trailer. The incident is under multiple investigations.