New Trial for Three Previously Convicted in Murder of 8 Year-Old Boy

ROCKFORD - The families of three convicted killers say the decision for their relatives to get a new trial was something a long time coming.  The men convicted in 2002 for the murder of 8 year-old DeMarcus Hanson will get a new trial after Judge Joseph McGraw handed down his decision Tuesday afternoon at the Winnebago County Justice Center. 

Back in 2002, the family of DeMarcus Hanson rejoiced after hearing a guilty verdict in their son's murder case.  Tuesday, Hanson's mother displayed a look of disbelief in court after the three men believed for over a decade to have killed her 8 year-old boy inside their Chestnut Street home were granted a new trial.

"I'm ecstatic because I don't want to see anyone ever in jail for a crime they didn't commit," said Attorney Steve Greenberg, defense for TyJuan Anderson, one of the three men now up for a new trial.

"I have absolutely no doubt that TyJuan Anderson did not commit this crime."

Greenberg says Anderson along with Anthony Ross and Lumont Johnson has been wrongfully locked up for ten years.  Judge McGraw said he granted the new case citing taped testimony from Hanson's uncle, Alex Dowthard.  New evidence that suggests that Dowthard's testimony was coerced by a Rockford Police officer. 

"Everything was before the courts from day one," said Jackie Henry, mother of TyJuan Anderson. "A lot of discrepancies have caused [TyJuan] to be in there that long."

The prosecution told the judge they'll file for reconsideration of Tuesday's judgment and will file subsequent appeal.  Dep. State's Attorney, Marilyn Hite-Ross claims the right people are already behind bars.

"They were convicted by a jury of their peers in two separate jury trials and their convictions were upheld," said Hite-Ross.  "So we still believe in the integrity of the prosecution and in the integrity of this case."

Anderson, Ross and Johnson all still sit in prison tonight, but their family says a new trial will hopefully bring them home.

"They were wrongfully convicted from day one," said Henry.  "All the evidence today proves that, so the new trial should prove the rest of it."

A bond hearing for the three defendants is set for April 2^nd.  There is no new trial set yet.