(BLOOMINGTON, IL; March 16, 2011) – The Committee to Free Jamie Snow (CFJS) announced today that a motion has been filed asking the McLean County Circuit Court to order a ballistics test that could prove the bullets found in a crime committed in 1991 are linked to a crime committed by another perpetrator.
Ballistics information can be entered into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) and the Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) is then used to compare the new data with information already present in the database, such as spent ammunition recovered from crime scenes or gun test fires. In a matter of hours, these comparisons may yield a match that is linked to another crime.
There are currently two bullets available for testing using this technology that was not available in 1991. Snow seeks to use the IBIS technology to compare the bullets from the crime scene to ballistics data from crimes already contained in the IBIS database.
According to the motion, there were a string of gas station robberies in the Bloomington area around 1991, and renewed testing has the potential to produce new evidence relevant to Snow’s “assertion of actual innocence”…” This is a case with no solid evidence pointing to Mr. Snow. It is a case in which there is obvious ballistics evidence to test – the two bullets found in the victim. The firearm used in this crime was never recovered.” There has never been any physical evidence linking Snow to the crime.
Jamie Snow of Bloomington, Illinois was convicted in 2001 of the 1991 murder of a gas station attendant during an apparent robbery. He has always maintained his innocence. In 2008 the University of Chicago’s Exoneration Project accepted his case. Snow’s attorneys believe that a “hit” on the IBIS database could be valuable in obtaining a new trial for Snow.
In addition to the IBIS testing motion, Snows attorneys have submitted a motion to supplement the record to include three new pieces of evidence that support Snow’s existing claims of ineffective counsel, jailhouse informants receiving deals in exchange for testimony, and police pressure.
Snow recently successfully petitioned to have his case moved out of McLean county, and is currently awaiting a decision on his post conviction petition, which will determine whether or not he will be granted an evidentiary hearing on newly discovered evidence.
The motion for ballistics testing can be found here:http://www.freejamiesnow.com/docs/motion_ballisticstest.pdf
The motion to supplement the record with three new pieces of evidence can be found here:http://www.freejamiesnow.com/docs/SupMotion031611.pdf
For more information on this case, please visit: http://www.freejamiesnow.com. If you have information concerning this case, please call our toll free, confidential tip line at: 1-888-815-9299 or email: tips@freejamiesnow.com.
Jamie Snow’s attorney, Tara Thompson of the University of Chicago’s Exoneration Project, (http://www.theexonerationproject.org) can be reached via email at: tthompson@law.uchicago.edu
For all press inquiries please contact:
Tammy Alexander
Committee to Free Jamie Snow (CFJS)
P.O. Box 944
Collierville, TN 38027
Email: press@freejamiesnow.com
Website: http://www.freejamiesnow.com