Two face perjury charges for changing story they gave as teens

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A perjury trial is scheduled for two men who changed their stories about a 1993 murder — leading to freedom for the man convicted in the case.

Prosecutors say Kevin Johnson and Hakim Shabazz lied when they were teens, or when they recanted 20 years later.

The original suspect was Jerome Morgan. He was freed in 2014 and the case was officially dropped by prosecutors last year.

Johnson and Shabazz were indicted on perjury charges in 2015. Defense lawyers have argued that Johnson and Shabazz were coerced by police when they implicated Morgan.

Morgan, who was 17 when he was arrested, was prosecuted for the death of Clarence Landry. Landry, who was 16, died when gunfire broke out at a Sweet 16 party at a hotel ballroom.