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Trial planned on Beaman's innocence petition

Posted February 04, 2013 7:00 am

Associated Press

CHAMPAIGN — An Aug. 6 date is set for a trial on the petition to be declared innocent filed by a man who spent more than 13 years in prison after being convicted of stabbing and strangling an Illinois State University student.

Alan Beaman was serving a 50-year sentence when the Illinois Supreme Court reversed his conviction in the 1993 death of Jennifer Lockmiller.

The (Bloomington) Pantagraph reports that Beaman's is one of about 25 petitions filed since 2008 under a state law that allows people convicted of crimes to ask a court for a finding of innocence after their convictions have been reversed or vacated.

Most innocence cases don't go to trial; McLean County prosecutors are opposing Beaman's petition.

The trial will be heard by Champaign County Judge Jeffrey Ford.

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