By AP/KWMU
Mt. Vernon, IL – An appeals court in Illinois has upheld an order of a new trial for a man who has spent 23 years in prison for two St. Clair County murders.
The court ruled that police tricked Gregory Bowman into confessing to the 1978 killings of 21-year-old Ruth Ann Jany and 14-year-old Elizabeth West, both of Belleville.
Justices wrote that the police scheme was the type of overreaching that could result in a false confession, which upholds a 2001 ruling by a St. Clair County judge.