PEORIA, Ill. (AP) - Lawyers from Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions who represent a Peoria man have filed a motion in Peoria County court requesting advanced DNA testing that they say could prove he didn’t kill two people in 1977.
Johnnie Lee Savory was convicted when he was 14 years old and spent nearly 30 years in prison for the deaths. He was pardoned after then-Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn commuted his sentence in 2011.
Savory’s attorneys and prosecutors argued Wednesday over the merits of the new findings, the (Peoria) Journal Star (https://bit.ly/1JKBXu6 ) reported. Chief Peoria County Circuit Judge Steve Kouri said he would consider the matter, but a decision isn’t expected soon.
Joshua Tepfer, one of the attorneys representing Savory, told Kouri that prosecutors are grasping at straws to ensure the conviction against his client remained intact.
“The criminal justice system makes mistakes in cases of great magnitude all the time,” he said. “It’s not the fault of anyone or anything, but it’s a system that relies on people and evidence. Those have flaws.
“But science doesn’t suffer from those same subjective flaws,” Tepfer said, asking for a new trial in hopes that Savory will be exonerated.
Prosecutor Jeremy Beard argued that the new DNA evidence, blood samples found on a light switch in the home where the killings took place and on the body of one of the victims, doesn’t come close to the legal threshold required for a new trial.
Connie Cooper, 19, and her brother, James Robinson, 14, were fatally stabbed in June 1977. Before his conviction, prosecutors alleged Savory killed the teens after losing his temper while practicing karate with Robinson.
Savory was tried twice in the killings. His first conviction was overturned when the Third District Appellate Court determined his alleged confession was involuntary and his Miranda rights were violated. A retrial took place in 1981 and he was convicted a second time.
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Information from: Journal Star, https://pjstar.com
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