2025 June 2 NEWS ARTICLE WGLT NPR – Snow, McNeil ask Illinois Supreme Court to hear appeals in murder convictions
To read online go to: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-06-02/snow-mcneil-ask-illinois-state-supreme-court-to-hear-appeals-in-murder-convictions
WGLT | By Joe Deacon – WGLT
Published June 2, 2025 at 12:16 PM CDT
Capitol News Illinois
The Illinois Supreme Court chamber. Attorneys representing Jamie Snow and Barton McNeil recently filed “Petitions for Leave to Appeal,” or PLAs, with the state’s highest court. A decision on whether the court will grant the petitions is expected within weeks.
The Illinois Supreme Court is being asked to review the appeals of two Twin City men who claim they were wrongfully convicted in unrelated McLean County murder cases from the 1990s.
Attorneys representing Jamie Snow and Barton McNeil recently filed “Petitions for Leave to Appeal,” or PLAs, with the state’s highest court. A decision on whether the court will grant the petitions is expected within weeks.
Both men are now represented by the University of Chicago Law School’s Exoneration Project, with McNeil also supported by the Illinois Innocence Project.
Snow was convicted in the 1991 shooting death of gas station attendant Bill Little during a robbery, and is serving a life sentence. McNeil received a 100-year sentence after being convicted in the 1998 suffocation of his 3-year-old daughter, Christina.
Both have maintained their innocence, and are seeking new trials.
Snow’s PLA was filed May 1, and McNeil’s on May 23. Filing a PLA is the necessary legal step in the appeals process, asking the state’s high court to take another look at lower courts’ previous decisions.
Last year, the 11th Circuit Court denied appeals sought by both men. The 4th District Appellate Court based in Springfield upheld those denials in April, weeks after back-to-back hearings at Illinois State University.
McNeil has claimed his ex-girlfriend, Misook Nowlin, broke into his Bloomington apartment and suffocated his daughter to death. His attorneys are seeking to introduce evidence that Nowlin’s DNA was found in Christina’s bed the night she was killed.
In another unrelated case, Nowlin was convicted of the 2011 choking death of her mother-in-law, Linda Tyda. Prosecutors have said that conviction is not relevant to McNeil’s case because the strangulations were different.
Snow’s defense team want modern testing techniques used on fingerprint and blood collected from the crime scene, alleging that evidence does not incriminate him. Snow has claimed prosecutors and police detectives mishandled his case.
Snow’s representatives shared a transcript of an audio statement he issued to his supporters, acknowledging the effort is “an uphill battle.”
“I think what a lot of people don’t realize is that when you appeal to the Supreme Court, you’re not really guaranteed an appeal,” said Snow. “You’re basically asking them if you can appeal to them and they don’t accept very many.
“So we’re really hoping and praying that they will see the legitimacy of Bart’s issues and mine, and do the right thing and accept our appeals and at least allow us to make the argument as to why the lower courts got it wrong.”
Snow on Nightline
The Jamie Snow case will be featured on ABC’s new long-running late-night news program Nightline at 11:35 p.m. Tuesday.
According to the ABC news schedule, Linsey Davis will interview Snow in prison and talk with family members and others who have been working on a grassroots campaign to secure his release.
An ABC spokesperson says the full 30-minute feature will air during ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Nightline will air a piece of the full package.
Joe Deacon is a reporter at WCBU and WGLT.
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