The search for ‘new’ Weger evidence: It’s not looking good

Chester Weger still doesn’t know if a search will turn up any “new” evidence from the 1960 crime scene that led to his murder conviction — but it’s not looking good.

Monday, a La Salle County judge held a follow-up hearing on the search for evidence collected from the Starved Rock murders but not introduced at trial. Last week, Judge Michael C. Jansz asked if any items listed in an aged document still exist. La Salle County State’s Attorney Karen Donnelly agreed to inquire.

Answer: Surely not.

Donnelly said the out-of-state facility does not hold materials that long. That was an informal response, however; Donnelly was told she’d have to file a request under the Freedom of Information Act to get a definitive answer. Either way, it doesn’t look as if Weger, who was not present Monday, will get any long-lost items to send to the crime lab.

Weger was paroled last year after serving six decades for murder. He was sentenced to life in prison for killing Lillian Oetting. Though he later recanted, he confessed to killing Oetting and two companions, Frances Murphy and Mildred Lindquist, in a botched robbery at Starved Rock State Park.

Weger continues to protest his innocence and his lawyers want not only to unearth any lost items but to also send a few existing pieces of evidence to the lab for fresh testing. To that end, they submitted another motion Monday asking to have the Weger’s jacket and some hair samples analyzed.

It’s the second time they’ve asked. Jansz considered a similar request last week and said “no.”

Lawmakers have eased the rules on submitting old evidence for new testing, but there still is a two-part test. First, the suspect’s identity has to be called into question. Second, the chain of custody — that is, the documented handling of the evidence — has to be clear enough to show no tampering.

Last week, Jansz ruled that Weger passed the first test but not the second. The evidence was handled in ways that wouldn’t past muster today and that, Jansz ruled, meant Weger couldn’t show that modern testing would yield reliable results.

Celeste Stack, one of Weger’s lawyers, said that shouldn’t be the end of it. Forensic techniques, she argued, have advanced too much to deny Weger, now 81, a chance to dispute key facts from his 60-year-old case.

“This is very important,” Stack said, adding later, “He was shot down years ago because the evidence was horribly mishandled.”

Jansz agreed to look at the new motion and, after Donnelly has a chance to reply, address the issues and case law raised in Weger’s motion. A hearing is set for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Stack’s use of the words “horribly mishandled” is defensible — cases would be dismissed if evidence were so handled today — but nonetheless requires some historic context.

The murders were committed when the Eisenhower presidency was drawing to a close and when most Americans watched TV in black and white. DNA had been discovered in the early 1950s, but scientists were years away from applying it to forensic analysis and developing standards for securing evidence for lab testing.