A Chicago man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and served 35 years in prison was granted a certificate of innocence from the Cook County Circuit Court on Monday, his attorneys said.
Brian Beals’ 35 years behind bars is the fifth longest term of wrongful incarceration in Illinois history, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. He was 22 when he entered prison; he was 57 when he was released in December 2023.
“There is a wide range of emotions I’m feeling today, having received the certificate of innocence,” Beals said in a statement. “Validation. Relief. But also, sadness for the 35 years I spent in prison and how that impacted my family — and the many events, milestones, and personal losses I could not experience firsthand all those years.”
Beals was convicted in the 1988 murder of 6-year-old Demetrius Campbell in Englewood. The then 22-year-old Southern Illinois University student was home in Chicago during Thanksgiving break when he was approached by a drug dealer and they argued, according to news accounts at the time. Attorneys say Beals got in his car and drove off.
Bullets fired in Beals’ direction hit two bystanders, Demetrius and his mother, Valerie Campbell.
Despite three witnesses describing a different assailant, Beals was convicted — largely due to Campbell’s testimony in which she said she saw Beals in the argument and believed he had fired the shots. Beals maintained his innocence throughout.
Attorneys who took on Beals’ case, including with the Illinois Innocence Project, found five new witnesses to corroborate that Beals was the intended target and was not the shooter. They also presented photographic enhancement showing Beals’ car had bullet holes in the rear bumper.
His attorneys called the case a “grave miscarriage of justice,” in a statement Monday.
“He lost out on so much of life by being wrongfully incarcerated, and truth be told, we lost out on Brian,” said Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge Partner Brian Eldridge. “He is so gifted, so creative, and so impactful.”
Before he was released, Beals became the first certified civics peer educator at Dixon Correctional Center after Illinois launched the Civics in Prison program in 2019, which holds classes teaching legal rights and civic duties to those in prison.
But since his exoneration, Beals has been working with the Mud Theatre Project — where he is now the executive director — which was created through the writing community of the Illinois Department of Corrections and aims to uplift voices of the incarcerated while also serving as therapeutic rehabilitation.
He has also been part of the push to restore voting rights for those in prison.
Looking ahead, Beals said he sees more outspoken activism for those who have served time and those in his community.
“My commitment now to myself and to my community is to tell my story through my writing, performance, and the Mud Theatre Project,” Beals said. “And mentoring others so together we can do better, be better as a community.”
Contributing: AP
