JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled an Oklahoma man should get a second trial in a 2012 homicide in Joplin.
The court on Tuesday vacated the second-degree murder conviction of Daniel Hartman for the July 2012 death of 23-year-old Jacob Wages. The court ruled the trial judge should not have excluded testimony during the penalty phase from a witness who claimed another defendant confessed to killing Wages. The court said the witness’ testimony should have been considered reliable and could have exonerated Hartman.
Three co-defendants testified at Hartman’s trial that he shot Wages. The defendants mistakenly thought Wages had drugs and cash.
Hartman, a member of a Hoover Street Crips gang in Tulsa, Oklahoma, testified during his sentencing that he was innocent and had never been to Wages’ home.
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