Inside the effort to exonerate the man who served 59 years behind bars for one of the most heinous crimes in history...
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On February 21, 2020, Chester Otto Weger, prisoner C-01114, stepped out of far-downstate Pinckneyville Correctional Center into the cool air of an overcast morning. It was the 21,646th day behind bars for the state’s longest-held inmate. It would also be his last. Three months earlier, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board had met to decide Weger’s fate. Would he be granted parole, or would he continue to serve out a life sentence for murder in connection with one of the most notorious cases in Illinois history: the 1960 triple homicide at Starved Rock State Park? He had long been aware that the board wanted him to express remorse and that not doing so would almost certainly doom his chance of early release. But year after year, over the course of 23 hearings since he became eligible for parole a half-century ago, he refused. His claim of innocence, he said, was all he had to cling to. That immovable stance made the conclusion of his 24th hearing all the more stunning: a vote of 9–4 in favor of release.
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Many men in a similar position might decide to live out the remainder of their days quietly, basking in the glow of family and attempting to make up for lost time. But now that his day of liberation had finally arrived, Weger knew exactly what his next move would be. He had been telegraphing it for half a century. Back in 1972, before what was Weger’s second parole hearing, a Prisoner Review Board member had visited him at Stateville Correctional Center and asked about his plans were he to be released. Without a thought, Weger replied that he would seek, by all legal means, to prove his innocence.
C202203-Starved-Rock-Killer-H-Lindquist-Murphy.jpgAnd now he has that opportunity. In October, his pro bono lawyers — veteran trial attorneys with experience in exoneration cases — received permission from the LaSalle County Circuit Court to submit evidence recovered at the crime scene for DNA testing. Weger hopes the analysis will help him finally clear his name — perhaps by revealing the identity of what he calls the true killer.
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https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-m...ng-a-murderer/