---
title: 'Gordon Steidl Released After 17 Years'
description: '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…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/gordon-steidl-released-after-17-years'
section: news
date: '2004-06-02T19:51:30-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:53:50-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

!  **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](/article.php?scid=1&did=1017)**  
[ **Read the 2003 Decision to Retry (PDF)**](http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/documents/SteidlOpinion.pdf)  
[ **Read more about Gordon Steidl**](/article.php?scid=6&did=109#04steidl)  
[ **Information on Innocence and the Death Penalty**](/innocence-and-death-penalty?did=412&scid=6)