In 1960, three women were brutally murdered at Starved Rock State Park. Shortly after the murders, police buried a legitimate lead pointing to other suspects. Instead, investigators spent months breaking a poor, uneducated 21-year-old dishwasher named Chester Weger until they were finally able to coerce him into "confessing" to a crime. Yet, those investigators never even cared that Chester's coerced "confession" was non-sensical and directly contradicted the evidence.

Nevertheless, Chester spent the next 60 years in prison for a crime the evidence proved he did not commit—longer than almost anyone in American history has served for a crime they didn't commit.

Then the evidence caught up decades later. DNA excluded Chester from the crime scene. Genetic genealogy linked the DNA evidence to a different family altogether. Multiple witnesses came forward pointing to the real killers. Last summer, a judge heard three day's worth of incontrovertible evidence—evidence that would convince anyone who cared about justice and the truth.

He said no anyway.

And Chester Weger died only four days later, still legally guilty of a murder the evidence proves he didn't commit.

His attorneys have now filed a petition for posthumous clemency with the Illinois Prison Review Board and Governor Pritzker. It's the state's last chance to admit what the evidence already proves to be the truth. If you want to read the full petition for yourself or hear about the effort to clear Chester's good name, you can find both here. 

A wrongful conviction doesn't end when the wrongfully convicted man dies.

Every signature is a message to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board and Governor Pritzker: the public is watching, and the public demands justice. Sign the petition and help clear Chester Weger's name.