{"id":265,"date":"2012-03-01T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=265"},"modified":"2021-06-17T06:44:39","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T12:44:39","slug":"265","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=265","title":{"rendered":"2012 March News Article – Illinois Innocence Project Takes 1998 Barton McNeil Murder Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By: <\/span>Ryan Denham<\/a>  |  Yesterday<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BartonBarton McNeil, left, and Misook Wang. (Photos courtesy of the Illinois Department of Corrections and McLean County sheriff’s department)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SPRINGFIELD \u2013 The Illinois Innocence Project is taking on a 1998 Bloomington homicide, hoping to exonerate convicted murderer Barton McNeil and expecting to get some help from new DNA evidence testing.<\/p>\n

The Illinois Innocence Project<\/a> is \u201cin with both feet, in terms of giving this a thorough, thorough review,\u201d said IIP Legal Director John Hanlon, who recently visited McNeil in prison. A \u201cprofessional\u201d referred the case to the IIP, but Hanlon declined to say who or describe their occupation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was not a cold letter from Mr. McNeil,\u201d he told WJBC on Friday. \u201cThis was from another professional who believed firmly that Mr. McNeil is innocent of this crime and wanted our assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNeil was convicted of smothering his 3-year-old daughter, Christina. He\u2019s now serving a life sentence in prison but has long maintained that his then-estranged girlfriend, Misook Nowlin, broke into his Bloomington apartment and killed Christina while he slept.<\/p>\n

But Nowlin, now known as Misook Wang, was arrested last fall and charged with staging an elaborate plot to lure her 70-year-old mother-in-law, Wenlan \u201cLinda\u201d Tyda, into traveling to the Twin Cities, where she was strangled. Tyda\u2019s body was later dumped in a forest preserve near her home in the Joliet area.<\/p>\n

That connection was enough to prompt a second look<\/a> at the 1998 case by police and the McLean County state\u2019s attorney\u2019s office. Detectives traveled to interview McNeil at Menard Correctional Center<\/a> but later announced there were no new leads to pursue.<\/p>\n

Seeking more documents<\/strong><\/p>\n

WJBC\u2019s news partners, WMBD 31, first reported in February<\/a> that IIP was reviewing the case. The IIP team includes Hanlon, an outside investigator, numerous law-school students, undergraduate students and Project staffers, according to Hanlon.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting to this case is a long process,\u201d Hanlon said Friday. \u201cThere is a ton of paper, and there\u2019s more that I know we\u2019re gonna be seeking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IIP has received around 1,000 case referrals in its history, and the pace of those referrals is only accelerating this year, Hanlon said. Part of what elevated the IIP\u2019s interest in McNeil\u2019s case is that it was referred by \u201canother professional,\u201d Hanlon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re finding is that, not always, but very often some of the best referrals that come to us come from other professionals,\u201d Hanlon said.<\/p>\n

Hanlon\u2019s specialty is DNA cases. Ultimately, the goal in such cases is to file a new motion for DNA testing on certain evidence, Hanlon said. Generally speaking, DNA evidence exists in only about 10 percent of serious criminal felony cases, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we think it exists here,\u201d he said. (If DNA testing is not possible, another IIP lawyer specializing in investigations would then likely get the case, Hanlon said.)<\/p>\n

The public defender\u2019s office is aware of Wang\u2019s connection to the McNeil case and requested an audio copy of McNeil\u2019s interview with WJBC in October.<\/p>\n

McNeil and Christina\u2019s mother were divorced when she was killed. Police and prosecutors said during McNeil\u2019s trial that no one else could have killed Christina because there were no signs of forced entry. A pathologist also testified there was evidence Christina had been sexually abused \u2013 a possible motive.<\/p>\n

McNeil told police in 1998 that he believed Nowlin was responsible, according to court records, including a letter from McNeil to a Bloomington detective.<\/p>\n

Ryan Denham can be reached at ryan@wjbc.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Ryan Denham  |  Yesterday Barton McNeil, left, and Misook Wang. (Photos courtesy of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[7,25,26,22,27],"class_list":["post-265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-older-news","tag-barton-mcneil","tag-illinois-innocence-project","tag-john-hanlon","tag-misook-wang","tag-police-blottercategory-central-illinois-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","covernews-featured":"","covernews-medium":""},"author_info":{"display_name":"jeanne.ross","author_link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?author=4"},"category_info":"Older News<\/a>","tag_info":"Older News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=265"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1555,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions\/1555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}