Thursday, July 16, 2009

Hi everyone,

By now I hope you all know that Rob has been granted a new trial. Thanks to the excellent work of the Northwestern Center for Wrongful Convictions, the Illinois Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the trial court.

The Court relied primarily on error in the exclusion of Rob's forensic expert witness. The Court also held that certain testimony should not have been admitted.

QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE:

Q1. Will Rob be released until his next trial? A1. On Thursday 7/16 Rob's attorney moved for a bond hearing. Since he has been in and out a few times there is a reasonably good chance that he should be out on bond but we don't know. We also don't know where the hearing will be held and we aren't sure who will represent him.

Q2. When will the new trial be held? A2. Our best guess is 6 months to a year.

Q3. May the prosecution decline to retry the case? A3. Yes.

Q4. How is Rob doing? A4. He is hanging in there. He has adapted to prison conditions and he is coping well, under the circumstances. He wants to be assured that we all support him and are working actively to get him out of there.

More updates will be posted as they are available.

Thank you!