GORDON STEIDL RELEASED AFTER
17 YEARS



Gordon Steidl was freed from an Illinois prison May 28th, 2004, 17 years after he was wrong­ly con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to die for a 1986 dual mur­der. Steidl was grant­ed a new sen­tenc­ing hear­ing in 1999, result­ing in a sen­tence of life with­out parole. Federal judge Michael McCuskey over­turned Steidl’s con­vic­tion in 2003 and ordered a new tri­al. The state rein­ves­ti­gat­ed the case, test­ing DNA evi­dence, and found no link to Steidl. The pros­e­cu­tion elect­ed to drop all charges and Steidl became the 114th per­son exon­er­at­ed from death row. (Chicago Tribune, May 27, 2004)

Read the DPIC Press Release

Read the 2003 Decision to Retry (PDF)

Read more about Gordon Steidl

Information on Innocence and the Death Penalty

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