BLOOMINGTON New DNA test results shake up the list of possible suspects in the 1993 murder of Jennifer Lockmiller and strengthen Alan Beamans claim of innocence. <\/p>\n
Recently tested evidence contained no DNA from Beaman, who spent more than a dozen years in prison before a court ordered him released, or from three other men considered suspects in the death of the Decatur woman. It did, however, contain DNA from two unknown males. <\/p>\n
Documents submitted Thursday to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board by Beamans lawyers contained the results of tests a Missouri lab did on a vaginal swab taken from Lockmiller. <\/p>\n
Beaman, now 39, was released in 2008, following the reversal of his murder conviction by the Illinois Supreme Court in an opinion that called the evidence in his 1995 jury trial tenuous. <\/p>\n
McLean County prosecutors opted to dismiss the murder charges against Beaman but have maintained that authorities consider Lockmillers death an open case. Beaman and Lockmiller had a rocky dating relationship that ended shortly before she was found strangled and stabbed in her Normal apartment. <\/p>\n
Assistant States Attorney Pablo Eves said Thursday that his office has received the results, which are being reviewed. <\/p>\n
The significance of the new evidence cannot be overstated, said Beaman lawyers Karen Daniel and Jeff Urdangen in their supplemental report to the clemency board considering recommending a pardon to Gov. Pat Quinn. <\/p>\n
Crime scene evidence indicating that Lockmiller had been sexually assaulted combined with the DNA report very strongly suggests that at least one, if not both, of the contributors of the semen raped and killed her, said the lawyers. <\/p>\n
The DNA report also demonstrates that the prosecutions theory of the case at Alan Beamans trial was utterly false, said the lawyers with the Center on Wrongful Convictions in Chicago. <\/p>\n
The recent round of DNA testing was completed as part of a certificate of innocence petition filed by Beaman in 2009. The McLean County States Attorneys Office has opposed the certificate, which, if granted, would qualify Beaman to receive $170,000 from the state as compensation for the 13 years he served of a 50-year sentence. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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\nDNA test boosts Beaman's innocence claim<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"