Certain to be exonerated from a quarter-century behind bars, please help this innocent victim of the worst injustice imaginable avoid impoverishment during his remaining years, with his expected release soon to arrive.

For over two decades Barton McNeil has served a sentence of intended death-by-prison in Illinois maximum security prisons for a crime he now widely known innocent of.

Perhaps you've arrived at this page after having learned of Barton's wrongful conviction in countless news reports; on true crime TV programs, podcasts, Facebook, You Tube, the case-related website, or elsewhere. If not, look it up, judge the worth of this appeal for yourself, and return to this page.

As the leading authority on Barton's case, this appeal for good will comes by way of John Christopher Ross who has come to know Barton well as his staunchest innocence advocate, and can fully attest to the sincerity of this noble cause.

Behind bars since 1998, Barton has steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout. More than that, Barton has long insisted that the true perpetrator of the crime he was wrongfully convicted of was instead his psychotic estranged girlfriend, Misook Nowlin, now widely recognized as the genuine guilty culprit.

An obvious serial offender having gotten away with her brutal crime wrongfully leading to the railroading of Barton straight to prison, Nowlin continued her criminal ways, later committing the Bloomington, Illinois, murder of her then-husband's mother, Linda Tyda. An easily foreseen consequence of convicting an innocent man, you might say that Barton's wrongful conviction cost Linda Tyda her life.

Throughout Barton's first decade behind bars, his determined lone pursuit of justice proved futile. Alone, abandoned, destitute and deemed a criminal offender of the worst kind, each of his appeal efforts only seemed to dig his hole deeper. His (wrongful) conviction rubberstamped at every turn, Barton's prospects only darkened as his final resting place was increasingly destined to be an unmarked grave at the prison's cemetery, the truth of his innocence forever hidden. Incarcerated alongside depraved criminals of every stripe, the weight of his burden weighed heavy on Barton's soul.

During Barton's 13th year in prison, at the high cost to the life of Linda Tyda, Nowlin finally behind bars herself facing murder charges was now widely recognized as the same shady woman at the center of Barton's case years earlier—the very same estranged girlfriend that Barton was so outspoken of in his certainty that Nowlin was instead responsible for the terrible crime he was wrongfully convicted of.

As the result of Nowlin's later murder an intense spotlight manned by journalists far and wide and the innocence advocacy community has been turned back to the many telling Nowlin-related circumstances of Barton's case.

Still behind bars despite widespread recognition of his innocence, today Barton is the lead client of BOTH the Illinois Innocence Project of the University of Illinois Springfield, and the Exoneration Project of the University of Chicago School of Law. Highly unusual, Barton's representation by TWO innocence advocacy projects is a stark testament to his genuine innocence all by itself, Bloomington's McLean County a long-known producer of wrongful convictions.

Since her 2011 killing of mother-in-law Linda Tyda, Nowlin has been the subject of four true crime TV documentaries aired on Investigation Discovery and Oxygen Network channels. In 2018 Nowlin's connection to Barton's case and wrongful conviction was the subject of the 13-part Suspect Convictions radio program and podcast. [INSERT URLS?]

Based on a litany of newly-discovered evidence implicating Nowlin in Barton's case, not the least of which was her later Bloomington killing of her mother in law, Barton has recently been back in court with his now-five attorneys' efforts to have his wrongful conviction reversed.

The predominant subject featured in several criminal justice forums manned by esteemed panelists, more recently Nowlin's murderous ways and involvement in Barton's case are the subject of the two-hour “Misook Wang” episode of Snapped-Behind Bars re-running on TV's Oxygen Network, also available online. Misook Wang Has “the Capacity to Kill” | Oxygen Official Site

Nowlin's indisputable connection to the circumstances leading to Barton's wrongful conviction continues to be a prominent topic in criminal justice circles and the subject of countless news reports he was interviewed at length about. Illinois best known ongoing wrongful conviction, Barton's case and is the subject of a lengthy article in the March-April issue of Esquire magazine. Esquire Magazine Article on Barton McNeil Case in March/April 2024 issue

Expected to soon be released from his now-25 years behind bars in mostly maximum security prisons, Barton's unjust incarceration is coming to an end, certain to soon have his wrongful conviction reversed and be exonerated—his innocence long self-evident.

Because of this inevitability, this plea for your aid is coming to you beforehand in order to help jumpstart Barton's life upon his upcoming release, his basic needs immediate.

Born in 1959, Barton's remaining years are few. As it stands his possessions upon his release from prison will be the shirt on his back. Not having worked for the last 25 years he won't even receive much Social Security.

Marginally better than being in prison where all of his basic needs were provided for, Barton only has to look forward to post-incarceration poverty—at best employed as an elderly minimum wage Walmart greeter—his only home rotating between the sofas of his few remaining acquaintances if not heading straight to the nearest homeless shelter.

His basic needs substantial upon his looming exoneration and release from prison, without significant contributions to his welfare Barton will not nearly be able to afford the minimum standard of living that he would've easily maintained had he not unjustly been in prison all this time.

Barton at the time of his 1998 arrest

Above photo: Barton at the time of his 1998 arrest at age 39. At the time of his arrest he was an Assistant Manager at Red Lobster and had just received a job with Applebees to manage their restaurant in Peoria, Illinois.

Headlines made by lavish wrongful conviction civil lawsuit judgements, this is hardly the norm. A lengthy process sometimes lasting decades, countless barriers obstruct such efforts, few wrongful convictees ever getting any compensation at all.

The hands of time moving swiftly, Barton's expected lifespan does not afford him the unlikely luxury of some token level of State-sponsored compensation many years down the road for the long-running injustice he has already paid for with 25 years of his life. Should he ever receive a fair judgement in civil court, too late in life will it come for Barton to benefit from.

The above goal may seem like much. But even if met—divided by the number of years that Barton has unjustly spent in prison—this total would amount to a mere $8,076 dollars for every year he spent in prison.

Were Barton released from prison today, the full amount of the goal sought—divided by what remains of his expected lifespan (14 years.... until age 80)—would translate to an impoverishment income of a paltry $15,000 dollars or so a year that is the current poverty income level for one person according to the U.S. government.

How much is a year of one's life worth? How many dollars would soften the burden of some innocent soul who spent just a single year in a maximum security prison cell? How about 25 years behind bars? And how many dollars might compensate for such lengthy unjust suffering accompanied by widespread (false) belief that he was a criminal offender of the worst kind?

No hardened convict, throughout it all Barton has fought to keep his head high and maintain some sense of dignity. Despite the bitter environment that surrounded him for so long that would crush the spirit of the less resilient, Barton remains the same person he was at the time of his one-sided trial.

Determined in his now-25-year effort in pursuit of justice that began BEFORE his unwarranted arrest, had Barton's efforts not been opposed by the entire weight of the State's criminal justice system, Nowlin herself instead would've been behind bars and unable to later kill mother-in-law Linda Tyda. A killing abetted by Barton's wrongful conviction; Linda Tyda paid the ultimate price for Nowlin's prior criminal getaway.

Misook Nowlin Arrest Photo

A true tale of cruel injustice suffered by Barton and Linda Tyda alike foremost the result of their unfortunate relations with Nowlin, we humbly implore that you open your hearts and donate to this just cause. No contribution too small, no amount of money can make up for the many years in prison lost to Barton, his suffering not yet fully ended.

More than that, in the likelihood that Barton will soon be exonerated and released from prison, he'll only look forward to being destitute unless he has some financial means to jumpstart his life enough to reach and maintain some minimal standard of living while he still has some years left of his life.

His remaining years numbered already at retirement age, all proceeds will go to Barton himself in order that he may begin his life anew upon the granting of his much-deserved freedom, and still have some years to live in relative comfort.

above photo: Bart at an early age with his life ahead of him

Thank you in advance for your selfless consoderation of this worthy cause on behalf of Barton whose 25-year unjust suffering has been so great.

Barton McNeil

By John Ross

Barton McNeil

Financial Help Needed