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Snow lawyer asks for DNA testing on blood, bullets
By Edith Brady-Lunny
eblunny@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON — An attorney for convicted murderer Jamie Snow is asking that DNA testing be conducted on blood, fingerprints and bullets found at the scene of a 1991 robbery in Bloomington.

Snow is serving a life sentence for killing William Little, an attendant at the former Clark Oil station on East Empire Street.

Tara Thompson, an attorney with the University of Chicago Law School’s Exoneration Project, filed a motion this week in McLean County Circuit Court. Snow has maintained his innocence since his conviction in 2001.

“DNA testing of these pieces of evidence can identify who left the DNA at the scene, which would provide evidence that someone else, not Mr. Snow, was the person who entered the gas station and fought with the victim, leaving his or her blood on the ground and leaving fingerprints on the entryway door and on the way out,” said Thompson.

A hearing is set for Sept. 29.

Thompson argues that DNA testing, considered a relatively new method at the time of Snow’s trial, has not been conducted on the bullets, blood and fingerprints

An examination of the two .22 caliber bullets removed from Little “could provide evidence that someone else loaded the bullets into the weapon that killed Mr. Little,” according to the motion.

A state police crime lab comparison of seven fingerprints taken from the gas station door showed two prints matched Little and the remaining five did not come from Snow, according to court documents. The defense also wants testing performed on Little’s clothing.

Snow was charged with Little’s murder about eight years after the robbery. Much of the state’s case centered on the identification of Snow by a witness who identified him years after the hold-up. Testimony from several jailhouse informants also was used against Snow.

A co-defendant in the murder case, Susan Claycomb, was acquitted by a jury a year before Snow’s trial.

Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Workman renewed his confidence Thursday in the jury’s verdict against Snow. Workman was reviewing the defense motion and said objections to the request for testing the evidence were unlikely.

Illinois law allows defendants to request DNA testing of evidence used to secure their conviction if the results could produce new evidence related to a defendant’s claim of innocence.

That said, Workman was skeptical DNA testing would turn up a new suspect in the 19-year-old case.

“This shows how far they’re trying to reach. It may be a stretch,” said Workman.

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Reader comments on this story - 3 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

grneydgrl wrote on Sep 6, 2008 1:25 PM:

" Finally it seems like jamie and his family are gonna get justice "

Ted Kennedy's Swim Instructor wrote on Sep 5, 2008 9:10 AM:

" QUOTE FROM ARTICLE: “This shows how far they’re trying to reach. It may be a stretch,” said Workman.

It's not that they're stretching to definitively ID another suspect, Mr. Workman, it's that they're trying to establish reasonable doubt that Snow committed the crime. That is all that is required in a criminal defense case - reasonable doubt. All the DNA has to do is exclude Snow, and he should walk free for being wrongly convicted. "

irishman652 wrote on Sep 4, 2008 4:18 PM:

" It really does not seem that long ago. What a waste of two lives for a few dollars. "
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