BACKGROUND: From a previous post of this Blog: "After lawyers with the Exoneration Project and Illinois Innocence Project unearthed dramatic new forensic evidence, a judge has ruled that McNeil - serving a 100 year sentence on murder charges in the 1998 death of 3-year-old Christina McNeil - can take the next step in his quest for a new trial, WGLT (Reporter Edith Brady-Lunny) reports..."McNeil’s petition seeking a new trial in the 1998 death of his young daughter will move forward in McLean County court, a judge has ruled, in a decision that recognizes potential new evidence that may support McNeil’s innocence. McNeil is serving 100 years on murder charges in the suffocation death of 3-year-old Christina McNeil. McNeil claimed he found the child’s lifeless body in her bed at his Bloomington apartment, maintaining his innocence while encouraging police to investigate his former girlfriend, Misook Nowlin, as a suspect. Nowlin was later convicted in the 2011 strangulation of her mother-in-law, Linda Tyda. In February, lawyers with the Illinois Innocence Project and The Exoneration Project filed a 65-page petition asserting McNeil’s innocence of the murder. Newly developed scientific evidence challenges claims by former pathologist Dr. Violette Hnilica that the child was molested before she was smothered. Authorities relied upon an accusation that McNeil molested his daughter to support their theory of a motive for her death. “The bottom line is that modern science completely repudiates Hnilica’s testimony regarding any alleged motive,” said the defense motion. Forensic tests performed after McNeil’s conviction on hair collected from inside the child’s pillowcase showed the hair was consistent with Nowlin’s DNA, the defense argues. Nowlin also could not be excluded from DNA collected from a bedsheet."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "McNeil maintains to this day that his ex-girlfriend at the time is responsible for his daughter’s death. She is serving time in prison for an unrelated murder."
GIST: "A Bloomington man serving a 100-year prison sentence for murdering his daughter may soon get a new lease on life.
Barton McNeil has served over 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the 1998 strangulation of his daughter, Christina McNeil.
Since then, McNeil has maintained his innocence in the death and said he had zero involvement.
On Friday, attorneys from the Illinois Innocence Project appeared in a McLean County Courtroom on McNeil’s behalf, as well as a group of family members and other supporters.
Mary Koll, a prosecutor with the state’s attorney’s office, said she talked with McNeil’s innocence team before the hearing. She said the state needed time to decide on whether the state would request dismissal of McNeil’s petition for a new trial, or move directly to an evidentiary hearing–a hearing where both parties will outline new evidence in the case.
Judge William Yoder set a 30-day status hearing and put the next date as December 10th.
McNeil’s cousin, Chris Ross, said he is pleased with Friday’s hearing and hopes things keep trending up for his cousin.
“I’m here to support my cousin; I will be for every future hearing until the point in time that there’s an order he be released and I’ll gladly be there when he’s released from Pinckneyville Correctional Institute and be able to give this guy a hug and he deserves to have his freedom back,” Ross said.
Ross said McNeil was represented by a public defender in the 90s and said he hopes to see Bart have a chance to defend himself in court.
“Usually only about 3% of applicants to innocence projects have their cases taken up by these attorneys on their behalf, so I’m looking forward to my cousin having finally after 23 years truly have his day in court,” Ross said.
The entire story can be read at:
