The Illinois Supreme Court is being asked to review the appeals of two Twin City men who claim they were wrongfully convicted in unrelated McLean County murder cases from the 1990s.

An appeals court has denied Barton McNeil’s request to reconsider evidence and grant him a new trial in a 1998 Bloomington murder.

The two Bloomington men convicted of unrelated murders have maintained their innocence for decades. Both were denied new trials in circuit courts as part of their post-conviction appeals.

Lawyers working on behalf of Barton McNeil have filed an appeal in the Fourth District Appellate Court seeking to reverse a trial court ruling that denied McNeil's request for a new trial.

Freelance journalist Matthew Bremner said a similar experience in his own life — the accidental injury of infant son — caused him to revisit the story about a father accused of killing his 3-year-old daughter, Christina McNeil.

New evidence in the murder case that sent Barton McNeil to prison for life in the death of his 3-year-old daughter would likely be inadmissible at a second trial, a McLean County judge has ruled.

The woman accused by Barton McNeil of killing his 3-year-daughter, a crime that sent him to prison for 99 years, denied during a dramatic post-conviction hearing on Tuesday that she was responsible for the girl’s death.

A judge has set a Nov. 21 hearing to allow lawyers for Barton McNeil to present new potential evidence to challenge his 1998 murder conviction.