{"id":2977,"date":"2022-05-09T08:17:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T14:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=2977"},"modified":"2023-01-21T22:40:40","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T05:40:40","slug":"2022-may-9-news-article-hoi-abc-news-bart-mcneil-hopes-new-evidence-in-98-death-of-a-toddler-will-lead-to-exoneration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=2977","title":{"rendered":"2022 May 9 News Article – HOI ABC News – Bart McNeil hopes new evidence in \u201898 death of a toddler will lead to exoneration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Jenise Rebholz<\/a>
Published: May. 9, 2022 at 7:37 PM PDT<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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** SPECIAL NOTE ** TO SEE THE SPECIAL REPORT GO TO CLICK THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE LINK <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLICK HERE TO WATCH SPECIAL NEWS REPORT BY JENISE REBHOLZ OF ABC<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLean County IL (Heart of Illinois ABC) – A Bloomington man has spent the last 24 years fighting to prove his innocence in the death of his daughter from inside Illinois prisons. It wasn\u2019t until 2002 when his ex-girlfriend was convicted of a separate murder that his plea gained momentum and attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, May 12th, he hopes new evidence will prove to the justice system that he did not kill his 3-year-old little girl in 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Christina Marguerite McNeil<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jenise Rebholz<\/a> was able to get access inside the Pinckneyville Prison to talk to Barton McNeil about the new evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a case we\u2019ve followed for more than two decades. It was June 16th 1998 when Barton McNeil went to wake up his daughter, Christina, only to find her lying in bed lifeless and cold. Christina\u2019s cause of death is declared as asphyxiation by smothering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the hours and days following, Bart would call police back to the scene begging them to investigate a possible break-in through the bedroom window, after he says he noticed what he believed to be tampering to the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night before Christina\u2019s death, Bart spent the early evening fighting with his ex-girlfriend Misook Nowlin at Avanti\u2019s before leaving to get his daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pleaded with police to investigate Misook for Christina\u2019s death. The only arrest his plea would lead to was his own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now 24 years later, Bart tells Jenise Rebholz inside the walls of the Pinckneyville Prison what he recalls from that week, and the turning point in his prison sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says his relationship with Misook was tumultuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misook was charged with domestic battery against him and Christina a few months prior, and her sentencing was the day after Christina\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe viewed Christina as an obstacle in her access to me,\u201d said Bart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says Christina slept in his bed when she was there, he would sleep on the couch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several hours after putting Christina to bed that night, he heard something from the bedroom. He looked inside to see her sitting up, saying \u201cMichelle\u201d. That\u2019s Misook\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was very bizarre, she was acting like she just saw or was just in the presence of Michelle,\u201d said Bart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says he put her back to sleep just after midnight. The next time he would see her, she\u2019s dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At his trial, a motion was filed blocking Misook\u2019s name from being mentioned<\/strong>, preventing Bart and his public defender any chance to provide an alternate theory to how Christina died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI almost fired him and represented myself at my trial, I was this close\u201d said Bart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors pushed the narrative that Bart killed his daughter to cover up sexual abusing her, and the window couldn\u2019t have been broken into because there were spider webs around the edge, despite holes in the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can see it\u2019s completely unlatched, it\u2019s a little bit bent, you can see sunlight coming through,\u201d said Bart as he showed crime scene photographs from 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bart\u2019s landlord testified that he walked past that window regularly and never saw holes. Police officers admit the screen was not properly in its track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crime video at the scene would show just how easily it falls out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere would have been DNA on the tips of those strands,\u201d said McNeil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the statements, Bart is found guilty in his bench trial and sentenced to natural life in prison.
Transcripts show Bart\u2019s frustration about the information not included in his trial, like Misook\u2019s violent past with Bart and Christina, A DCFS investigation after hitting her own daughter Michelle, anger management and even a lie detector test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Words spoken by Barton McNeil at his sentencing hearing held in 1999 in which he received a maximum lifetime in prison sentence rendered by the lone judge who oversaw his Bench Trial<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s something Bart\u2019s cousin Chris Ross claims are part of several Brady Violations<\/a>, defined as when prosecutors fail to perform heir constitutional duty to turn over helpful evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMisook was convicted of smothering her daughter three months after Christina was found smothered to death. Bart\u2019s attorney was never avail to that information. Mclean County judiciously decided we will not convict Misook until a month after we\u2019ve convicted Bart,\u201d said Chris Ross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jenise Rebholz called Bart\u2019s public defender from 1999, Tracy Smith, and while he declined a formal interview, he says he stands by his work, saying he worked with what he had at the time. We also reached out to Bart\u2019s ex-wife and mother of Christina, Tita McNeil. She says she doesn\u2019t keep up with Bart\u2019s court proceedings, but her friends do share updates sometimes. Jenise asked her if she thought Bart killed their daughter, or if she was suspicious of Misook, she didn\u2019t want her share her thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for former coworker of Bart and Misook, Jeff Boyer, says she was known for her quick temper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKnowing her in the times that I was with him, where she kind of blew up or kind of got agitated real easily, I guess I just kinda of dismissed it as her being crazy,\u201d said Boyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appeals were filed for a new sentence, even a new trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2002, Bart\u2019s sentence was changed from natural life to 100 years. He predicted that day, Misook would kill someone if she wasn\u2019t arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine years later, that\u2019s exactly what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Misook arrested for murder (The Pantagraph Newspaper)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The death of 7-year-old Linda Tyda in September 2011, Misook\u2019s Mother-in-law, became the turning point in Bart\u2019s efforts to prove his innocence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get an envelope from my buddy and I open the envelope and it\u2019s a front page article… and there\u2019s Misook\u2019s picture on it and it said \u2018Bloomington woman charged with murder\u2019 and I\u2019m like… oh my god,\u201d said Bart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few months later, Bart\u2019s case is picked up by the Illinois Innocence Project<\/a> and the Exoneration Project.<\/a> He receives that news on January 11th, Christina\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor anyone to take the time like the Innocence Project have to go through Bart\u2019s discovery documents and trial transcripts, there\u2019s no way you come out of that process not believing in Bart\u2019s innocence,\u201d said Ross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within two years the new legal team was granted the ability to have new dna testing on the bedding and bring new experts to look into the case. This is the focus of Bart\u2019s court proceedings this Thursday, May 12th.
Much of this new information is being pushed to disprove evidence presented in 1999, as modern forensics disputes it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes the claim that Christina was molested before her death. At the original trial, Dr. Violette Hnilica testified that swelling on the young girl\u2019s genitals would suggest sexual abuse. However, there was no internal evidence for that claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Nancy Harper with the University of Minnesota Children\u2019s Hospital says Dr. Hnilica\u2019s claims are scientifically inaccurate and baseless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the potentially impactful pieces of evidence is DNA testing verifing the hair of Misook Nowlin on the death bed of Christina and her DNA on the bedsheets and pillowcases.
This receipt shows Bart took his laundry to be cleaned and was picked up the morning of June 15th because he knew Christina would be sleeping there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn July 15th, I picked up my laundry from the wash laundry service, which included this same bed sheet… touch DNA does not survive the laundering process. Touch DNA is not transferable from one item to another through casual contact. Those are my understanding from experts in the field of that whole touch DNA presence,\u201d said McNeil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 60-page petition for post-conviction relief, Bart\u2019s team draws atention to the similarities in the death of Christina and Misook\u2019s killing of her Mother-in-law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both cases came on the heels of relationship troubles, Bart ended his relationship with Misook just hours before Christina\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the death of Linda Tyda, Misook wrote a letter to her daughter Michelle saying she regretted the killing, but her husband\u2019s affair with Linda\u2019s coworker drove her crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming through the documents of this case, one theme was very apparent, people involved with the investigation and trial want nothing to do with it anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People we reached out to include McNeil\u2019s public defender, Christina\u2019s mother, the judge, detectives and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barton McNeil will travel to McLean County court on Thursday, May 12th. Follow the Facebook page of Jenise Rebholz<\/a> for updates and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright 2022 Heart of Illinois ABC. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

** SPECIAL NOTE ** TO SEE THE SPECIAL REPORT GO TO CLICK THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[7,100,31,26,109,6,57,22,106,104],"class_list":["post-2977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-news-articles","tag-barton-mcneil","tag-charles-reynard","tag-christina-mcneil","tag-john-hanlon","tag-mclean-county","tag-misook-nowlin","tag-misook-nowlin-wang","tag-misook-wang","tag-stephanie-wong","tag-teena-griffin"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz.jpg",353,376,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz-282x300.jpg",282,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz.jpg",353,376,false],"large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz.jpg",353,376,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz.jpg",353,376,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz.jpg",353,376,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz.jpg",353,376,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Jenise-Rebholz-353x340.jpg",353,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"chris.ross","author_link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?author=3"},"category_info":"Current News Articles<\/a>","tag_info":"Current News Articles","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2977"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3189,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2977\/revisions\/3189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}