NORMAL, Ill. (WMBD) — More than 100 people listened as two teams of attorneys laid out their cases regarding two decade-old convictions.
A three-judge panel from the 4th District Appellate Court left their normal digs in Springfield and went on the road. Instead of a lavish and austere courtroom, they used the Prairie Room at the Bone Student Center on the Illinois State University campus.
Appellate courts have gone on the road before to hear cases, so while it’s not common, it’s not unheard of. Often they hear two cases of local interest as a way to offer the average person a glimpse into the appellate process.
In this case, it was the 1998 conviction of Barton McNeil who is accused of killing his daughter and Jamie Snow who was convicted of murder in 2001 for killing a gas station clerk at a Bloomington station.
The three judges were seated behind their own table, covered with a black cloth to give it a more formal feel. The attorneys then stood several feet back and used a common lectern.
And once the attorneys got going, the vibe was that of a courtroom. Each team had 30 minutes to argue their point of the appeal. There, at times, was a spirited back and forth between the judges and attorneys.
Both Team McNeil and prosecutors for the state’s appellate prosecutor’s office will get time to argue their case. After that, the appellate court will issue a written opinion, likely in a few months.
The McNeil case
McNeil was convicted in 1999 of killing his daughter, Christina, and later sentenced to 100 years in prison.
In the hours after the girl’s lifeless body was found, McNeil called police back to his apartment at least four times, and at one point, vehemently requests detectives come there to collect what he calls evidence of his daughter’s murder.
Suspect number one in his attorneys’ minds is his ex-girlfriend, Misook Nowlin. 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.
McNeil and his attorneys claim Nowlin admitted to killing Christina to her ex-husband but has since denied that.
The Snow Case
Snow was convicted in 2001 for the 1991 armed robbery and murder of Bill Little, 18, who was at the Bloomington gas station that Snow allegedly robbed. He received a life sentence.
The incident happened on Easter Sunday in 1991. The robbery netted only $92. There was no murder weapon recovered, and DNA testing wasn’t done. His attorneys had asked for DNA testing to be done on clothing, blood and bullets that were linked to the victim.
What Team McNeil is appealing now
Nowlin’s confession wasn’t known until years after his initial trial. McNeil’s attorneys sought to have it admitted over prosecutors’ objections.
He, as did Snow, tried to introduce evidence through the post-conviction petition process. That form of appeal goes through the trial court, not the appellate court. There are three stages.
The first stage falls on a judge to “determine whether the petition is frivolous or patently without merit,” according to the state act outlining the process.
If the matter goes past the first stage, then a judge could appoint an attorney to help with the petition. At a third-stage hearing, a judge would hear evidence of newly discovered materials or claims of constitutional right violations that a defendant thinks would lead to a different outcome.
But last year, McLean County Circuit Judge William Yoder said no. The reason? The evidence that McNeil wanted to use at a new trial likely wouldn’t be legally allowed and beyond that, it wasn’t likely to tip the scales at a new trial, he ruled.
Snow’s case was basically the same. He too was denied a chance to get new DNA testing by a local judge ruled it would not have been enough to clear him of his murder convection and as such, denied his request.
The two men are appealing the rejection of their petitions, both of which came last year.
