Jamie Snow’s request for forensic testing on evidence in his 2001 murder conviction made its way back into the courtroom on Monday after years of delay.
Snow is serving life in prison in the Easter Sunday 1991 shooting death of Bill Little during the robbery of a Bloomington service station.
Schuyler County Judge Ramon Escapa opened the hearing conducted via Zoom with questions to McLean County prosecutor Brad Rigdon and Exoneration Project lawyer Lauren Myerscough-Mueller about what matters remain pending in the Snow’s effort to secure a new trial.
Escapa was assigned to hear the post-conviction case after a previous judge retired last year. The case was transferred to the 8th Judicial Circuit because of judicial conflicts in McLean County where Snow was convicted.
Rigdon said he was initially unaware of any pending issues in the case. Rigdon took over the case from former McLean County prosecutor Adam Ghrist. In her recent assignment to the case, Exoneration Project lawyer Myerscough-Mueller also has a brief history with Snow’s case.
Snow’s lawyer told the judge the two sides are still negotiating over 8,228 pages of Bloomington police records the defense has reviewed in the state’s attorney’s office.
“We’ve never dealt with what we are entitled to,” said Myerscough-Mueller.
Also pending is a defense motion filed in 2013 for DNA testing on 10 items of evidence related to fingerprints, said Snow’s lawyer.
Snow, now 55, participated in the hearing remotely from a room at Stateville Correctional Center.
Escapa asked Snow about his concerns that “everybody just kind of lost track” of his case.
“That’s part of it, judge,” Snow responded.
So far, Snow's appeals and post-conviction petition have been unsuccessul. He has argued that police relied on false testimony from witnesses who received help from authoirties with pending criminal matters.
Escapa plans to make several trips to McLean County to review the 17 volumes of court records in Snow’s case. The judge set a June 28 hearing to discuss future hearing dates.
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