Alan Beaman’s attorneys are trying everything they can think of to try to get some resolution, some compensation for him in return for the 13 years of his life that were taken away from him after the reversal of his criminal conviction by the Illinois Supreme Court. As this Pantagraph story relates (here) the attorneys for the police and prosecutors are attempting to stymie Beaman’s lawsuits against them, and he has had to endure multiple court hurdles in order to clear his name and have some possibility of a small, future compensation from the state.
What is interesting is the nearly simultaneous public announcement by the McLean County States Attorney’s office that they are considering requesting additional testing of the physical evidence in the case that Beaman’s conviction was overturned on (see Pantagraph here). This appears to be another attempt on their part to undermine the validity of Beaman’s actions in some way, since one notes that their public announcement of further testing appears to be premature. After all, they state that they are just in the investigatory stages of determining whether or not they will ask for further testing of the evidence; they haven’t actually made that decision yet! So, why then are they even making the announcement at this time?
Of course, McLean County could be opening up a can a worms for themselves here. Beaman’s attorney has remarked that the state is claiming “…substantial evidence”, and, if so, he certainly “…wants to know what it is”. More to the point: if it is substantial and in any way at all concerns Beaman, then why hasn’t it been disclosed before?
RichardWanke.Com 