PEORIA, Ill. (AP) - A Peoria man who spent nearly 20 years in prison for the 1994 rape of a 16-year-old girl and a home invasion walked out of court Thursday a free man.
The (Peoria) Journal Star reports (https://bit.ly/1fuLFQj) Christopher Coleman, who had been free on bond awaiting a decision on his case, was smiling broadly as he walked out of Peoria County Circuit Judge Steve Kouri’s courtroom after State’s Attorney Jerry Brady dropped all charges against him.
Brady said problems with the evidence, including the death of an eyewitness as well as others recanting their testimony, led him to believe it was in the interest of justice to drop the charges.
Coleman, 40, was convicted of armed robbery and aggravated criminal sexual assault in the Aug. 22, 1994, crime and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
After Kouri made the dismissal official, Coleman met his mother, Armanda Coleman, outside the courtroom and gave her a hug. He also hugged his attorney, Karen Daniel, the co-director of Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University’s School of Law, which took up his case five years ago.
“More than anything I thank God for bringing them (his attorneys) into his life,” he said. “I am just feeling like I am going to enjoy my family, and my life right now.”
Coleman’s freedom comes six months after the Illinois Supreme Court overturned an appellate court ruling and ordered a new trial for him.
A circuit judge in 2010 refused to grant Coleman a new trial, saying new witnesses produced by Coleman lacked credibility. A state appellate court the next year agreed.
But since Coleman was convicted, others who weren’t charged have said they were in fact involved and Coleman was not. The statute of limitations has run out so those people can’t be charged.
The Supreme Court justices, in their October ruling, pointed out that no forensic evidence linked Coleman to the attack.
“We believe that the evidence presented by the defendant at the evidentiary hearing, together with the evidence presented by the defendant at trial, places the evidence presented by the state in a new light and undermines our confidence in that evidence and the result it produced,” they wrote.
Coleman, who now lives in Chicago, says he plans to attend college and is hoping for a brighter future.
“Life doesn’t end in your 20s and 30s, so I am still going to have a lot of the 40s, 50s and 60s if it is God’s will. I am ecstatic,” he said.
___
Information from: Journal Star, https://pjstar.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.