STORY: "Hearing set on DNA test request in 1998 murder case," published by the Pantagraph on April 4, 2014.
GIST: " Lawyers for a Bloomington man will be in McLean County Circuit Court June 24 to argue for DNA testing on evidence collected in the 1998 death of his daughter. Barton McNeil, now 54, is serving life in prison for smothering 3-year-old Christina McNeil, a murder he contends was committed by his former girlfriend Misook Nowlin, herself a convicted killer. McNeil was in court Friday for a brief hearing to set a date for arguments on his request for testing on nine items from the crime scene, including the girl's clothing, bedding and a latent fingerprint from a windowsill. The fingerprint "could provide critical evidence that the victim's murderer entered the bedroom from the outside," according to the defense motion. The state has agreed to testing of five blood and urine stains on a bed sheet that were not previously tested. McNeil, convicted in 1999, has consistently asserted Nowlin killed the child in retaliation for his decision to end their relationship. The defense argues numerous similarities exist between Christina's death and the 2011 strangulation death of Nowlin's mother-in-law, Linda Tyda. Nowlin was convicted of killing her in 2012."
The entire story can be found at:GIST: " Lawyers for a Bloomington man will be in McLean County Circuit Court June 24 to argue for DNA testing on evidence collected in the 1998 death of his daughter. Barton McNeil, now 54, is serving life in prison for smothering 3-year-old Christina McNeil, a murder he contends was committed by his former girlfriend Misook Nowlin, herself a convicted killer. McNeil was in court Friday for a brief hearing to set a date for arguments on his request for testing on nine items from the crime scene, including the girl's clothing, bedding and a latent fingerprint from a windowsill. The fingerprint "could provide critical evidence that the victim's murderer entered the bedroom from the outside," according to the defense motion. The state has agreed to testing of five blood and urine stains on a bed sheet that were not previously tested. McNeil, convicted in 1999, has consistently asserted Nowlin killed the child in retaliation for his decision to end their relationship. The defense argues numerous similarities exist between Christina's death and the 2011 strangulation death of Nowlin's mother-in-law, Linda Tyda. Nowlin was convicted of killing her in 2012."
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/hearing-set-on-dna-test-request-in-murder-case/article_3b81db25-67da-56c3-91ef-2b264f174820.html
See his support site: "We hope that for city of Bloomington, Illinois, where this story takes place, a city that experiences on average just one murder per year, that Barton's 1998 case be re-opened. As a result of missteps made by city employees from this time period who are no longer there, another life was lost. One murder, became three that now includes wrongfully convicted father Barton McNeil, now serving a 100 year “death by prison” sentence in a Maximum Security Prison for a crime he did not commit."
http://freebart.org/
See Barton McNeil's Innocence Project page: "As Bart worked to prove his innocence
through appeals, Misook Nowlin was making news. In September 2011,
Mistook Nowlin made headlines for the murder of her mother-in-law,
Wenlan Tyda. Tyda’s murder occurred shortly after Misook’s new husband
asked for a divorce, under eerily similar circumstances. In December of
2012, Misook Nowlin was convicted of strangling Tyda with her purse
strap and sentenced to 55 years in prison. The realization that Misook is in fact
capable of murder under extremely similar circumstances, coupled with
the incomplete forensic evidence presented at Bart’s original trial, has
prompted the Illinois Innocence Project to review Bart’s case and
assist him in his pursuit of proving his innocence. The Project seeks
to have the above items of evidence tested via the latest DNA
technology, including “Touch DNA” procedures."
http://www.uis.edu/innocenceproject/cases/current/mcneil/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
