2005 November 9 – McNeil Appointed Public Defense counsel for Illinois Supreme Court Appeal (This is an automatic appeal and Bart’s final unless New Evidence discovered)

Following Barton’s self-authored Pro-Se Post Conviction appeal submitted to the court in 2005, Barton was then represented by the Office of the State Appellate Defender Fourth Judicial District. In specific, Arden Lang. Barton was sent some form letters and when the appeal was drafted Barton was aghast that there was no mention of Misook Nowlin whatsoever contained in it, despite his having provided Ms. Lang many letters and comments regarding Misook being at the epicenter of his wrongful conviction. But was to no avail. At this level not even one bit of Discovery is ready by the Appellate attorneys. They focus only on issues relating to the conviction itself and all information relied upon has to be contained within the court trial itself. So no reaching further into Misook. Therefore the appeal was summarily dismissed and this was Barton’s final hope… until which point in time New Evidence could be discovered warranting him a new trial. At this point in time Barton had given up all hope and was resigned that he would endure a slow and inevitable “death by prison”. At this time in his life, he had few persons on the outside world in which to communicate with. No friends and very little in the way of family.

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