PASSAGE ONE OF THE DAY: "At Tuesday’s hearing, McNeil’s lawyers with the Exoneration Project and the Illinois Innocence Project asked that Nowlin’s history of child abuse be used to support an affidavit by Michelle Nowlin that her mother beat her. The state records could also support defense arguments that Nowlin threatened to kill her daughter by suffocation, the same method authorities believe was used to kill Christina. Two other affidavits that claim Nowlin confessed to two people that she killed Christina also are considered evidence discovered since McNeil’s trial. Dawn Nowlin, wife of Nowlin’s former husband Andy Nowlin, and the suspect’s daughter both allege in signed statements that Don Wang relayed Misook Nowlin’s confession to them in conversations after Tyda’s funeral. Wang was Nowlin’s husband at the time Tyda was murdered."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "At a news conference after the hearing, McNeil’s cousin, Chris Ross, called on the Illinois Attorney General’s office to appoint a special prosecutor to bring evidence against Nowlin to a grand jury on murder charges in Christina’s death. The state’s top prosecutor and the governor have an obligation to prosecute Nowlin, said Ross. “Misook Nowlin killed Christina McNeil and should be charged with murder,” said Ross, standing outside the Law and Justice Center, flanked by McNeil supporters. The family’s demand for a grand jury investigation was independent of McNeil’s lawyers, who did not attend the news conference. A July hearing is scheduled to review the results of the DCFS records request and to set a date for the evidentiary hearing on potential new evidence."
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STORY: "Judge allows Misook Bowlin's DCFS records as evidence in the Barton McNeil case," by Reporter Elizabeth Brady-Lunny, published by WFLT.org (NPR Network) on June 6, 2023. (Edith Brady-Lunny began her career as a reporter with The DeWitt County Observer, a weekly newspaper in Clinton. From 2007 to June 2019, Edith covered crime and legal issues for The Pantagraph, a daily newspaper in Bloomington, Illinois. She previously worked as a correspondent for The Pantagraph covering courts and local government issues in central Illinois.)
GIST: "Child welfare records related to child abuse by Misook Nowlin can be used by Barton McNeil in his challenge to his 1998 murder conviction in his daughter's death, a judge ruled Tuesday at a hearing in McLean County court.
McNeil, 63, smiled and waved to a large audience of supporters as he was escorted from the courtroom after the 20-minute hearing.
McNeil was a cook at a Bloomington restaurant in June 1998 when his 3-year-old daughter Christina was found unresponsive in her bed at his apartment following an overnight stay. Hours after her body was removed, he summoned police back to his home on Croxton Avenue to examine what he thought may be evidence of a break-in, and the intentional killing of his daughter.
McNeil suggested police talk to Nowlin, his former girlfriend, who was accused in a pending court case of physically abusing him. Nowlin’s history of violence against McNeil and her own daughter, Michelle Nowlin, were not considered at McNeil’s bench trial and sentencing hearing.
In 2011, Nowlin was charged with strangling her mother-in-law, Linda Tyda, after luring the 70-year-old victim to Bloomington from her home near Chicago on the pretense of hiring her as a translator. Nowlin is serving 55 years in prison for Tyda’s murder.
At Tuesday’s hearing, McNeil’s lawyers with the Exoneration Project and the Illinois Innocence Project asked that Nowlin’s history of child abuse be used to support an affidavit by Michelle Nowlin that her mother beat her. The state records could also support defense arguments that Nowlin threatened to kill her daughter by suffocation, the same method authorities believe was used to kill Christina.
Two other affidavits that claim Nowlin confessed to two people that she killed Christina also are considered evidence discovered since McNeil’s trial.
Dawn Nowlin, wife of Nowlin’s former husband Andy Nowlin, and the suspect’s daughter both allege in signed statements that Don Wang relayed Misook Nowlin’s confession to them in conversations after Tyda’s funeral. Wang was Nowlin’s husband at the time Tyda was murdered.
In making the ruling, judge William Yoder made it clear that DCFS statements are as far as the defense can go in their efforts to support Michelle Nowlin’s affidavit. Other claims about Nowlin’s misconduct will not be considered at a future hearing on potential new evidence, said Yoder.
In a ruling last year, Yoder dismissed multiple areas of potential new evidence developed by the defense, except for the alleged confessions and the DCFS records. The mosaic of other forensic evidence pointing to McNeil’s ex-girlfriend as a viable suspect did not meet the legal standard for new evidence, the judge previously ruled.
At a news conference after the hearing, McNeil’s cousin, Chris Ross, called on the Illinois Attorney General’s office to appoint a special prosecutor to bring evidence against Nowlin to a grand jury on murder charges in Christina’s death. The state’s top prosecutor and the governor have an obligation to prosecute Nowlin, said Ross.
“Misook Nowlin killed Christina McNeil and should be charged with murder,” said Ross, standing outside the Law and Justice Center, flanked by McNeil supporters.
The family’s demand for a grand jury investigation was independent of McNeil’s lawyers, who did not attend the news conference.
A July hearing is scheduled to review the results of the DCFS records request and to set a date for the evidentiary hearing on potential new evidence."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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