Cole County judge looks at ten year old break – in conviction

(MissouriNet) — Cole County Circuit Judge Dan Green has ordered the Missouri Highway Patrol to cross-check an unidentified fingerprint potentially connected to a violent eastern Missouri burglary in 1997. During the break-in at a home in O’Fallon, the burglar fired several gun shots, seriously injuring the homeowner in the head.  Johnathan Irons is serving a 50-year prison sentence for the crime he says he did not commit. 

The mystery fingerprint was found in evidence files – years after Irons’ court trial wrapped up. Irons, who was 16 years old at the time of the crime, thinks the print could have cleared him. The prosecution argued during the trial that Irons was seen the day of the burglary with a gun in the neighborhood where the crime happened.