By Raja Razek, CNN
(CNN) — A man wrongfully convicted in the 1988 murder of a 6-year-old boy in Illinois is free after 35 years behind bars, the Cook County State’s Attorney Office said.
Brian Beals, who was a college athlete studying to be a police officer when he was arrested, was released after a Cook County court granted a petition to vacate the conviction, according to a statement from the state’s attorney’s office.
The state’s attorney’s office called it a “significant step towards justice.”
The Illinois Innocence Project, which was involved in the case, said in a post on X that the exoneration “ends the second-longest #wrongfulimprisonment in #Illinois history!”
Beals, a Southern Illinois University student at the time, was visiting home when he “became the unintended target of a local drug supplier’s threats,” the University of Illinois Springfield, the base of the Illinois Innocence Project, said in a news release.
“Bullets aimed at Beals’ fleeing vehicle tragically struck 6-year-old Demetrius Campbell and his mother, Valerie Campbell,” the release said. “Demetrius succumbed to his injuries.”
Beals was convicted “primarily” on the testimony of Valerie Campbell, who identified Beals as the shooter during the trial despite not being shown any line-ups or photographs, according to the university.
“However, newly surfaced evidence includes statements from five additional witnesses affirming that Beals was the intended target, not the perpetrator,” the release read. “Photographic enhancement of police images also revealed bullet holes in Beals’ car, further supporting his innocence.”
Beals’ attorney, Laura Nirider, called the case “one of the most egregious wrongful convictions I have ever seen,” adding that “Brian, a college athlete who was studying to be a police officer, represented the best of his community’s future – but that future was derailed.”
When the new evidence came to light, the state’s attorney’s office worked with Beals’ counsel to review the case, according to the release.
The wrongful conviction “represents a grave miscarriage of justice not only for Mr. Beals but also for the victim and their family, who have been denied true justice for decades,” the state attorney’s office said.
CNN has reached out to the Innocence Project and is attempting to reach Beals for more information.
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