A University City man serving a life sentence for murder may soon walk free. Attorneys representing George Allen presented new evidence at a hearing in Jefferson City Friday.
Allen has already served 30 years for the brutal 1982 rape and murder of court reporter Mary Bell.
Barry Scheck is a lawyer with the Innocence Project. He says the Attorney General's office is accepting a list of new "undisputed facts" that could set Allen free.
"It's our view that the reason that we're all going to do this is that the outcome any of a number grounds, whether its undisclosed exculpatory evidence or actual innocence," Scheck said. "But we're very optimistic that Mr. Allen is going to get released here."
New DNA testing on semen found at the crime scene has been shown not to be Allen's, as well as other evidence that Scheck claims was suppressed.
Scheck also claims that Allen, a diagnosed schizophrenic, only confessed to the crime after an illegal interrogation from the police.
"Well we think that there was plainly misconduct on the part of the homicide detective, that exculpatory evidence was suppressed and it's pretty scary to think that this was a capital case," Scheck said.
Scheck claims the new evidence is more than enough to see Allen released in a matter of months.
