Murder Charge Dropped; Man Served 15 Years

Charges against an Alabama man imprisoned 15 years for the slaying of a shopkeeper were dismissed Friday after the discovery that the murder weapon was used in a robbery two weeks after his arrest.

“This makes it a very, very merry Christmas,” said Bobby Joe Leaster. “My future looks bright. It’s time to get on with my life.”

“We can’t say that . . . Leaster did it, and we can’t say that he didn’t,” Assistant Dist. Atty. Francis O’Meara told Superior Court Judge Paul Chernoff. “He served 15 years, and it’s time to let it go.”

Constable Plays Key Role

Leaster, 36, was freed last month after serving 15 years of a life sentence after a constable said that Leaster was not one of the two men he saw fleeing a Boston variety store after the 1970 slaying of Levi Whiteside during a holdup.

Constable Mark Johnson, 29, approached authorities with his story supporting Leaster’s claims after reading about the case in July.

On Nov. 1, Superior Court Judge John J. Irwin threw out Leaster’s 1971 conviction on the basis of Johnson’s statements, saying there was “a substantial risk that a jury would have reached a different conclusion” if the testimony had been available at the trial.

Leaster was released from prison two days later.

But O’Meara said that Johnson’s testimony was not a major factor in the decision to drop plans to press charges, citing the recent discovery of a weapon that could be tied to the killing.

O’Meara said that a .22-caliber revolver was thrown from a car during a police chase 16 days after the killing. The gun was recovered but it was not linked to Whiteside’s killing until the case was reopened as a result of Johnson’s testimony.

Ballistics Tests Used

O’Meara said ballistics tests showed that a bullet taken from Whiteside’s chest had been fired from the gun.

A decision on a second trial was to have been made on Dec. 1, but Chernoff postponed the ruling when O’Meara said there were still unanswered questions in the case.

O’Meara told the judge that Kathleen Whiteside, widow of the slain shopkeeper, was “still 100% certain (Leaster) is the man who shot her husband.”

She and another woman were in the Talbot Avenue Variety Store during the crime and both identified Leaster as Whiteside’s killer. Leaster, who was arrested 90 minutes after the slaying, has maintained he is innocent.