BLOOMINGTON - For 4,872 days Carol Beaman has kept a diary of how long her son, Alan, has spent in the Illinois Department of Corrections. "Tonight, I will leave that blank," Carol Beaman said of her diary entry for Thursday, only minutes before Alan Beaman walked out of the McLean County jail. | Photo gallery | NEW Video

Beaman had been serving a 50-year prison sentence in connection with the 1993 death of his former girlfriend, Jennifer Lockmiller, but the Illinois Supreme Court reversed his conviction in May of this year.

That sent his case back to McLean County Circuit Court for retrial and made him eligible to post bond.

Beaman was transferred from Dixon Correctional Center and arrived at the jail in Bloomington at 6:35 p.m.

Beaman, who lived in Rockford and attended Illinois Wesleyan University at the time of the 22-year-old Decatur woman's death, had been in prison since 1995. He has served time at Menard, Joliet and Mount Sterling prisons, and he has spent the last four years at Dixon, about an hour from Rockford.

Just after 7 p.m., Beaman emerged from the jail's main entrance wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, a Chicago Bears T-shirt and a Bears baseball cap turned backward.

His parents, Carol and Barry Beaman of Rockford, posted the $25,000 required for Alan Beaman, 35, to be released on bond.

"He asked for a dark green shirt and blue jeans," Carol Beaman said of the clothes she brought to the jail for her son to change into. She also brought a second choice for shirts: the Bears T-shirt.

"He wanted to stay away from a light blue shirt and dark blue pants - he's been wearing that for 13 years," she added.

Before climbing into his uncle's minivan, Alan Beaman said he has no idea what he planned to do Thursday night when he got home to Rockford.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Beaman said. "I'm still letting this moment sink in."

A bond order for Beaman was signed earlier in the day by McLean County Circuit Judge Kevin Fitzgerald.

The bond order was agreed to by McLean County State's Attorney Bill Yoder's office and Beaman's attorneys from the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago, said Beaman attorney Karen Daniel.

In a brief, prepared statement, Alan Beaman gave thanks to Jesus Christ for blessing him with a family that has stood by him during his trial and incarceration.

The Beamans still live in the same house that Alan Beaman grew up in, but Carol Beaman said it will take some time for her son to adjust.

"When he left, the trees in the yard were like that," she said, using her hands to illustrate how short the trees were.

"But it's nice to know that he will be sleeping in our house tonight," she added.

Alan Beaman finished his degree in theater from Illinois Wesleyan while awaiting his trial, his mother said. He already has an opportunity to work at a community theater in Rockford when he returns home, she said.

His father, Barry Beaman, an aerospace engineer, shared his hobby of astronomy and monitoring changes in the stars with his son. He said they will be setting up the biggest of the family's telescopes once Alan Beaman returned home.

"We have a hard road ahead, but we are grateful for this moment," Barry Beaman said.

Although his conviction was reversed, the first-degree murder charges that accuse Alan Beaman of stabbing and strangling Lockmiller, an Illinois State University student, remain in force.

"Now we will have to go about defending him against these charges," Daniel said. "We are certainly pleased that he can be out during this time to assist in his own defense. This is a positive step for us."

A hearing date is set for 10 a.m. July 2 on his still-pending murder charges.

Through his secretary, Yoder said he had no comment.

Yoder said this week he expects to have a second trial in the case.

Illinois Supreme Court justices ruled county prosecutors violated Beaman's constitutional right to due process and that the trial may have ended differently if his attorneys were allowed to present evidence about a second suspect. The court justices also wrote the state didn't have strong evidence against Beaman, and evidence involving the second suspect would have countered the state's argument that all other suspects had alibis.

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Key dates

Aug. 28, 1993 - The body of Illinois State University student Jennifer Lockmiller, 22, of Decatur was found in her apartment in Normal. Police said she had been stabbed in the chest with a pair of scissors and strangled with the cord of a clock radio. She was last seen Aug. 25, 1993, when she attended class.

May 17, 1994 - Illinois Wesleyan University student Alan Beaman, then 21, of Rockford, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the death of Lockmiller, his former girlfriend.

March 15, 1995 - Beaman's trial began in McLean County Circuit Court.

April 1, 1995 - After 20 hours of deliberations over three days, a McLean County jury convicted Beaman.

May 4, 1995 - McLean County Circuit Judge John Freese sentenced Beaman to 50 years in prison.

May 22, 2008 - The Illinois Supreme Court reversed Beaman's conviction, sending his case back to McLean County Circuit Court for a retrial. The ruling came after years of appeals, including the latest filed on his behalf by the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, Chicago.

June 26, 2008 - Beaman was transferred from Dixon Correctional Center to the McLean County jail, where he was released after posting $25,000 on still-pending murder charges. A hearing is set for July 2, but no retrial date has been set.

Source: Pantagraph archives