{"id":3668,"date":"2023-12-13T13:46:18","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T20:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=3668"},"modified":"2023-12-13T13:47:52","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T20:47:52","slug":"october-12-news-article-wmbd-cbs-fox-evidentiary-hearing-held-for-the-barton-mcneil-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/?p=3668","title":{"rendered":"November 21st News Article WMBD CBS\/FOX \u2013 Evidentiary hearing held for the Barton McNeil case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"176\" height=\"64\" src=\"https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3670\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>by: Benjamin Fries<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Posted: Nov 21, 2023 \/ 04:57 PM CST<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Evidentiary hearing held for the Barton McNeil case\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5skJnMTxrEg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD\/WYZZ) \u2014 Imprisoned for nearly a quarter of a century, Barton McNeil\u2019s case was heard again at the McLean County Courthouse on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McNeil was sentenced to life in prison in 1999 for the murder of his three-year-old daughter Christina, although it was reduced to a 99-year sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since his conviction, he has remained steadfast in his innocence. This evidentiary hearing happened after McNeil\u2019s petition for a new trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McNeil is in the process of overturning his nearly 25-year-old first-degree murder conviction through the post-conviction process, a form of appeal that goes through the trial court, not an appellate court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suspect number one in his defense counsel\u2019s mind is his ex-girlfriend, Misook Nowlin-Wang. She is currently serving a 55-year sentence for murdering her mother-in-law, Linda Tyda, in 2011 and had previously served time for domestic violence and child abuse charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nowlin-Wang took the stand today but pleaded the Fifth Amendment for each of the defense counsel\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other testimonies included Michelle Spencer, Nowlin-Wang\u2019s daughter, who saw McNeil as a \u201cfather figure\u201d. She contends that Don Wang, Nowlin-Wang\u2019s ex-husband, told her at the celebration of life ceremony for Tyda, who was Wang\u2019s mother, that Nowlin-Wang admitted to killing Christina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.centralillinoisproud.com\/news\/local-news\/mapleton-man-faces-up-to-30-years-in-prison-for-alleged-repeated-dui\/?ipid=promo-link-block1\"><strong>Mapleton man faces up to 30 years in prison for alleged repeated DUI<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, an interview conducted by a Bloomington detective around the same time as that celebration of life showed that Wang denied ever saying that. He did mention in that interview that he believed Nowlin-Wang had the \u201ccapability\u201d of murdering Christina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The defense contended that they needed \u201creasonable probability\u201d that would show that a jury would more than likely find McNeil innocent. However, McLean County\u2019s first assistant prosecutor Brad Rigdon asserted that the defense needs more than that for a new trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rigdon added that Nowlin-Wang pleading the fifth is not immediately a \u201cnegative inference\u201d and the fact that Don Wang denied saying that Nowlin-Wang admitted to murdering Christina, means the process should stop right here. He emphasized the fact that Tyda was Don Wang\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Karl Leonard represented the rest of the defense counsel in his final appeal to Judge William Yoder. He said that there \u201cwas never enough evidence\u201d against McNeil as there was no witness or forensic evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also contended that it was in Nowlin-Wang\u2019s best interest to answer questions instead of pleading the fifth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, he\u2019s glad about how the hearing went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe obviously still have to wait for the court\u2019s ruling, but I think today\u2019s a big day for Bart and a chance, finally, to present some of the evidence that he has showing his innocence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was joined in the courthouse lobby after the hearing by the rest of his defense team, and several supporters of McNeil, including family and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Larry Mize, who has been McNeil\u2019s friend since high school, today showed progress but he\u2019s still frustrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a little ridiculous that an innocent man sits in prison while everybody drags their feet and decides what they\u2019re going to do next and what they\u2019re going to file next. While they\u2019re shuffling papers, his life is wasting away,\u201d Mize said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there is no official date for a ruling, Judge Yoder said he will write his opinion as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by: Benjamin Fries Posted: Nov 21, 2023 \/ 04:57 PM CST BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD\/WYZZ) \u2014&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[7,109,6,157],"class_list":["post-3668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-news-articles","tag-barton-mcneil","tag-mclean-county","tag-misook-nowlin","tag-wrongful-conviction"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image.jpg",624,352,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image.jpg",624,352,false],"large":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image.jpg",624,352,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image.jpg",624,352,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image.jpg",624,352,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image.jpg",624,352,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/freebart.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-Nov-21-WMBD-image-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"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\/3668","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=3668"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3675,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3668\/revisions\/3675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freebart.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}