{"id":3023,"date":"2022-09-29T21:00:09","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T03:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=3023"},"modified":"2023-01-21T22:34:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T05:34:05","slug":"2022-september-29-news-article-wmbd-cbs-fox-news-group-protests-mclean-county-murder-convictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=3023","title":{"rendered":"2022 September 29 News Article \u2013 WMBD CBS\/Fox News \u2013 Group protests McLean County murder convictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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https:\/\/www.centralillinoisproud.com\/news\/local-news\/group-protests-mclean-county-murder-convictions\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by: Austin Schick<\/a> | Posted: Sep 29, 2022 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Updated: Sep 29, 2022 \/ 06:49 PM CDT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To see Alan Williams and what he and others had to say about Bart’s case please use the hyperlink shown above this image<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MCLEAN COUNTY, Ill. (WMBD) \u2014 A group of activists is asking: Does Innocence Matter? The question emblazoned their posters as protesters held a peaceful rally, calling attention to what they believe are wrongful convictions in McLean County from 1987 to 2001.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group organized by supporters of Jamie Snow gathered outside the McLean County Law and Justice Center Thursday afternoon. Many support and believe in the innocence of five men convicted of murder in the county from 1987-2001 under the tenure of former state\u2019s attorney, Charles Reynard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three of the men have been cleared of their crimes, but two them still maintain their innocence and fight to prove it from behind bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group of about two dozen protesters called out Reynard and his office at the time for playing a role in the \u201cwrongful convictions.\u201d Jessica Snow, daughter of Jamie Snow, said she knows her dad did not kill anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bart McNeil looks to prove innocence in daughter\u2019s murder<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they want admit that this courthouse is dirty like that, but they need to admit the wrongs and give my dad all the evidence,\u201d Snow said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family and supporters of Snow as well as McNeil claimed that during their 2001 and 1999 trials respectively, the county hid evidence that would have proven their innocence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2001, Snow was found guilty for the 1991 murder of a gas station attendant in a robbery gone wrong. Snow\u2019s daughter said key informants that testified in court were \u201cfaulty\u201d eyewitnessess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople telling me to my face that they lied to get time off jail when this is my dad\u2019s life. It\u2019s devastating,\u201d Snow said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WMBD spoke with McNeil from behind bars this past May. In June of 1998, McNeil was a single father raising his three year old daughter. After putting her to bed, he woke up the next morning to find the girl unconscious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barton McNeil\u2019s team provides \u2018proof of innocence\u2019 in court Thursday<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police arrested McNeil and he was subsequently found guilty in 1999. In the time since, McNeil has claimed no wrongdoing. He and his supporters are hopeful new DNA evidence will go before an evidentiary hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not his DNA, it never has been. He\u2019s been fighting for his innocence since the start of it,\u201d said high school friend of McNeil, Alan Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams attended a May 12 hearing for McNeil where a team of innocence lawyers argued why new evidence should move on to an evidentiary hearing. A judge is still looking the matter over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll I\u2019m waiting for now is the judge to make his decision. He said he would make his decision in 60 days, it\u2019s been 140 days,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group pleaded with current state\u2019s attorney Erika Reynolds to right the wrong of past prosecutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLean County Board votes Erika Reynolds for State\u2019s Attorney<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have hope she\u2019s going to be different because all we have here is hope,\u201d Snow said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan Beaman, Don Whalen and Eric Drew were also convicted of murder during that time in McLean County. All three have since been exonerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State\u2019s Attorney Erika Reynolds told WMBD the office could not comment on the pending litigation of McNeil and Snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reynolds said the exonerations of Beaman, Whalen and Drew were before she started with the McLean County State\u2019s Attorney office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by: Austin Schick | Posted: Sep 29, 2022 Updated: Sep 29, 2022 \/ 06:49 PM CDT MCLEAN COUNTY,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3239,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[7,100,31,26,109,6,57,22,106,104],"class_list":["post-3023","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\/09\/Alan-Williams.jpg",328,286,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alan-Williams-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alan-Williams-300x262.jpg",300,262,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alan-Williams.jpg",328,286,false],"large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alan-Williams.jpg",328,286,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alan-Williams.jpg",328,286,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alan-Williams.jpg",328,286,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alan-Williams.jpg",328,286,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Alan-Williams.jpg",328,286,false]},"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\/3023","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=3023"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3240,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3023\/revisions\/3240"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}