By Joe Ragusa
SPRINGFIELD – A man currently serving a life sentence for the murder of a Bloomington gas station attendant in 1991 will have his case heard by an appellate court Tuesday.
Jamie Snow was convicted in 2001 for the death of Billy Little on Easter Sunday 1991. Little died from a gunshot wound suffered during a robbery.
Tara Thompson, an attorney with the University of Chicago’s Exoneration Project, said Snow is innocent.
“(Snow) has continued to fight and to seek information through the Freedom of Information Act that shows more information about what was happening during the investigation of his case than he originally received at trial,” Thompson said.
That includes testimony from witnesses said Snow was not at the scene of the crime – a direct contradiction of other witnesses, including Danny Martinez, that said Snow was the man who fired the fatal shot. Thompson said one of the witness statements could have been from Martinez saying Snow wasn’t at the scene, but the names were redacted by authorities.
Snow has said he was at home eating dinner with his children at the time of the murder. His appeal has been denied several times, including once from the Illinois Supreme Court in 2012.
The appeal will be heard by the Fourth District Appellate Court at 11 a.m. Tuesday in Springfield.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].
