ST. LOUIS – The attorney representing the family of a man fatally shot by a St. Louis police officer says a judge will take another look at the evidence in the case.
Al Watkins, the lawyer representing Anthony Lamar Smith's family, said the new review is due to wrongful withholding of DNA evidence.
Anthony Lamar Smith was killed in 2011 by former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley. On Sept. 15, 2017, Stockley was found not guilty of murder by a judge’s ruling after a bench trial in Aug. 2017.
In December 2017, an independent investigation by Attorney General Josh Hawley found wrongdoing in the Stockley civil case. The Board of Police Commissioners settled that wrongful death suit with Smith's family for $900,000 in 2013.
The criminal case was brought forward five years after the shooting because new evidence showed Stockley's DNA on the gun found in Smith's car.
The family's attorney, Al Watkins, said he didn't have that information when the civil case was going on. Watkins believes if he had that evidence during the wrongful death suit Smith's family likely would've gotten a lot more than the roughly $900,000 for which they eventually settled.
Watkins said the family is hoping the new look at the evidence will allow them to figure out who is responsible for withholding the information in the first place. If they do find out who was behind it, the family could sue the person or entity in civil court and get more money.
