Chester Weger, convicted in Starved Rock murders case, can continue his exoneration bid

Chester Weger has not yet succeeded in overturning his murder conviction, but a judge ruled Friday that he can keep trying. Prosecutors wanted a judge to halt Weger’s exoneration bid, but a judge overruled them.

Weger, 85, was paroled in 2019 after serving six decades in prison for murdering Lillian Oetting, one of three women found fatally bludgeoned in 1960 at Starved Rock State Park. He recanted his confession and has since said he’s innocent.

I’m grateful. I’m excited. I’m exhilarated. I’m so happy we’re getting the bulk of our evidence to the third stage.”

—  Andy Hale, attorney for Chester Weger

He’ll get a chance to prove it in early 2025. Judge Michael C. Jansz approved “third-stage” proceedings – a “mini trial,” as Weger attorney Andy Hale put it – and likely will schedule something at a status hearing set for Jan. 24.

“I’m grateful. I’m excited. I’m exhilarated. I’m so happy we’re getting the bulk of our evidence to the third stage,” Hale said.

Hale said Weger is “excited” as well. The aged parolee showed no reaction when, after Jansz issued his ruling, Hale tugged at Weger’s sleeve and conveyed that they had prevailed at a critical stage of the three-stage process of overturning a conviction.

Jansz’s ruling centered on an affidavit provided by Roy Tyson, a Hennepin resident who came forward in early 2022 with new information that he said would clear Weger of murder.

Tyson said he had a lengthy conversation with Harold “Smokey” Wrona in 1996 in which Wrona said he was contacted by underworld figures looking for a place to dispose of a body. Wrona told Tyson that he became more directly involved in planning the Starved Rock murders and that Weger had nothing to do with it.

Does Friday’s ruling mean the judge believed Tyson’s affidavit and, by extension, believes Wrona was complicit? Not necessarily. Jansz did not rule on whether Tyson’s affidavit was credible – that’s an issue for the next stage of the proceedings.

But Jansz did rule that Tyson’s affidavit checked three boxes needed to advance Weger’s case to the next phase. The affidavit was new evidence, it’s material evidence, and it could have changed the result of Weger’s original trial.

Prosecutors sometime next year will have an opportunity to cross-examine Tyson and then argue over whether his recollections with Wrona are admissible or whether they are hearsay.

Actually, there are many other pieces of evidence to be admitted at the forthcoming mini trial – “It took a really long time for the court to go through this,” Jansz said – but Tyson’s affidavit appeared to be the linchpin of Jansz’s ruling. Weger’s lawyers can introduce other evidence to corroborate Tyson’s statements, and Jansz specifically listed two dozen statements or items that can be introduced.

Earlier this year, the special prosecutor in the case filed a 78-page pleading saying that Weger was guilty of murder and Weger’s claims of innocence were heard and rejected, asking that Weger’s current bid in front of the court be dismissed. Weger’s lawyers responded with a lengthy pleading, saying there’s new evidence to prove Weger’s innocence.