Getting stuck in the court system!

Justice should be about righteousness and not about procedural bars. A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

My case has been overlooked by the court system. I pled guilty to the attempted murder charge in 1992 due to the fact that my then attorney (mrs. Pantle) told me I had no choice. A week later the victim contacted my family to see why I would plead to a charge I didn't do. I immediately tried to withdraw my plea with the victim's affadavit and argued that my lawyer coerced the plea. She filed a motion to withdraw as my counsel to be a witness for the state against my motion.
So what did the court do? It denied my motion without an evidentiary hearing and then denied counsel motion to withdraw, leaving her to represent me on my murder case. With the results as described on this page.

So you can see how my defense was limited at my murder trial. None of the evidence proving my innocence was presented and only a few issues were preserved for direct appeal. My appeals were affirmed. As well as my post conviction petitions. On my appeal and first post conviction petition I raised the issue of my innocence and mentioned that two witnesses could prove my innocence. However under Illinois law you must provide a sworn affadavit from any witness. Since I was locked up and did not have any way to contact these witnesses on time, let alone if they wanted to cooperate, my appeals were denied.

I filed a successive petition based on a new court ruling that dealt with the way a jury trial should be conducted. At this time a lawyer was appointed for the first time to assist me in my post trial rulings. At this time the lawyer sent investigators to find two witnesses whom gave sworn statements proving my innocence.

However, now I am in a catch 22 situation trying to get this evidence heard. Since it was raised on an earlier court date I have to overcome a legal situation called res judicata. This means that you can't bring up evidence that was once brought up before. In essence the court system can deny my issues without as so much as a hearing from a single witness.
Besides the court system there is executive clemency which the governor can take into consideration regarding these factors.

I have been petitioning the governor of Illinois since 2005 trying to get my case a fair review. Witnesses never heard by the court gave live testimony to the prison review board that support my innocence claim. I still have not received a fair review.

In 2002 former governor Ryan pardoned 4 death row inmates who claimed they were forced to make incriminating statements (these were high profile cases). These inmates are free. Not one of them had a single shred of evidence that they were innocent but did have proof that the police beat them. Should they have been granted clemency? YES, but not because they were high profile cases and had political support.

Illinois has a long history of placing innocent men on death row. One point that is overlooked is that in Illinois death row inmates receive more safeguard than any other inmate / criminal defendant. Despite these safeguards a vast amount of inmates still are places on death row. Considering these facts, how many non-death penalty cases do you think innocent men are sent off to prison?

Something needs to be done about this.
Justice should be about righteousness and not about procedural bars. A threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.