{"id":3058,"date":"2022-10-25T20:57:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-26T02:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=3058"},"modified":"2023-01-15T19:00:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T02:00:05","slug":"2022-october-25-news-article-the-pantagraph-newspaper-judge-allows-hearing-in-1998-bloomington-murder-case-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=3058","title":{"rendered":"2022 October 25 News Article \u2013 The Pantagraph Newspaper \u2013 Judge allows hearing in 1998 Bloomington murder case appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-3.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"258\" height=\"77\" src=\"https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3059\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Mateusz Janik&nbsp;&nbsp; |&nbsp; October 25, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-5.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"635\" height=\"358\" src=\"https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-5.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3061\" srcset=\"https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-5.png 635w, https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-5-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 635px) 100vw, 635px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>See URL at top of post taking you to The Pantagraph online website in order to view the above video<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BLOOMINGTON \u2014 A hearing can be scheduled on one piece of Barton McNeil\u2019s potential evidence as he seeks exoneration on murder charges, a McLean County judge has ruled, but most of McNeil\u2019s arguments supporting a new trial were dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeil is currently serving&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pantagraph.com\/news\/local\/govt-and-politics\/dozens-protest-mclean-county-convictions\/article_a607547e-4032-11ed-a502-8b7c066dcc2d.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>a 100-year prison sentence on murder charges in the June 15, 1998<\/strong><\/a>, suffocation death of 3-year-old Christina McNeil. He has long maintained his innocence and argued that his ex-girlfriend, Misook Nowlin, committed the murder. Nowlin&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pantagraph.com\/news\/local\/crime-and-courts\/bloomington-woman-convicted-in-11-murder-continues-pursuit-of-new-trial\/article_b753ea36-f4f3-5f06-8625-5120eaa534ec.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>is serving a 55-year prison sentence on murder charges<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;for the 2011 strangulation death of her 70-year-old mother-in-law, Linda Tyda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pantagraph.com\/news\/local\/crime-and-courts\/prosecutors-agree-to-hearings-on-bloomington-mans-innocence-claim-in-1998-murder\/article_945f2ef9-af2a-5983-88b5-51cfabb1802e.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>earlier concession by state prosecutors this year<\/strong><\/a>, Yoder approved a hearing for two affidavits from the daughters of Nowlin, who supposedly confessed to the murder of Christina to her ex-husband, Don Wang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yoder\u2019s ruling, dated Oct. 11, dismissed a number of McNeil\u2019s arguments; he is expected to appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeil\u2019s lawyers, from the Exoneration Project and the Illinois Innocence Project, have maintained that evidence to convict McNeil was based on \u201cjunk science.\u201d They argued that nothing about the autopsy findings supports the basis that Christina was smothered and that newly discovered evidence disputes the state\u2019s initial report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His lawyers also asked for a hearing on allegations that Christina had been sexually molested, an allegation that authorities cited to bolster the murder investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yoder dismissed both medical claims, saying they failed to meet the standard of new evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other arguments included forensic results showing Nowlin\u2019s DNA on the bedding used by Christina. Yoder said she could not be excluded as a source of DNA, noting the romantic relationship between the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeil has argued that he washed the bedsheets earlier on the day of the daughter\u2019s death, as shown in a line item of a credit card statement submitted in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hours before Christina\u2019s death, Nowlin and McNeil ended their relationship at a restaurant&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/pantagraph.com\/news\/local\/crime-and-courts\/watch-now-new-evidence-to-be-weighed-in-bloomington-mans-1999-murder-conviction\/article_8cb92a6a-d21e-11ec-ae82-879c7b4d419b.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>where staff reported witnessing the two arguing.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McNeil\u2019s cousin, Chris Ross, blasted Yoder\u2019s decision, describing it in a statement as \u201cboth appalling and egregious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJudge William Yoder has now put a blight and stain on the county of McLean and the entire American criminal justice system and how we citizens believe it should work,\u201d Ross said in the statement. \u201cIf Bart does not deserve a new trial, who in the state of Illinois ever would?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The follow-up hearing will focus on statements from Nowlin\u2019s daughters, but no date has been set yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mateusz Janik&nbsp;&nbsp; |&nbsp; October 25, 2022 BLOOMINGTON \u2014 A hearing can be scheduled on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-news-articles"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4.png",851,596,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4-300x210.png",300,210,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4-768x538.png",640,448,true],"large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4.png",640,448,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4.png",851,596,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4.png",851,596,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4.png",851,596,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-4.png",485,340,false]},"author_info":{"display_name":"chris.ross","author_link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?author=3"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?cat=95\" rel=\"category\">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\/3058","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=3058"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3157,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3058\/revisions\/3157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}