The man who killed a 6-year-old boy in a horrific and tragic incident that rocked the Illinois community has been incarcerated for an astounding 35 years. The case, which goes back several decades, shows how horrific crimes continue to affect victims and their families.
The University of Illinois Springfield, home of the Illinois Innocence Project, released a statement stating that Beals, a student at Southern Illinois University at the time, “became the unintended target of threats made by a nearby drug supplier” during a visit home.
According to the press release, 6-year-old Demetrius Campbell and his mother Valerie Campbell were tragically struck by bullets fired at Beals’ evading vehicle. “Demetrius passed away from his wounds.”
On Monday, December 11, 2023, Marvin Haynes, 35, is embraced by a supporter as he leaves the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Stillwater in Bayport, Minn. A judge overturned Haynes’s murder conviction stemming from the 2004 killing of a man at a Minneapolis flower shop. When Randy Sherer, 55, was killed during a robbery, Haynes was 16 years old. (Mark Vancleave/AP Photo)
A man who was wrongfully convicted is released from prison after serving 20 years. This is his next course of action.
According to the university, Valerie Campbell’s testimony—which at trial identified Beals as the shooter even though she was not shown any line-ups or photos—was the “primary” factor in Beals’ conviction.
The release continued, “Yet, recently discovered evidence includes testimony from five more witnesses confirming that Beals was the intended target, not the perpetrator.” “Beals’ guilt is further bolstered by the photographic enhancement of police images, which also revealed bullet holes in his car.”
“One of the most egregious wrongful convictions I have ever seen,” said Laura Nirider, Beals’ attorney, who also noted that “Brian, a college athlete who was studying to be a police officer, who stood for the brightest future possible for his community, but whose destiny was ruined.”
According to the release, Beals’ attorney and the state’s attorney’s office reviewed the case after the new evidence became available.
The state attorney’s office stated that the erroneous conviction “represents a grave miscarriage of justice not only for Mr. Beals, as well as for the victim and their family, who have spent decades without receiving proper justice.”
