Freed After Serving 30 Years, Illinois Man Still Fights to Prove Innocence

Medill Reports, Chicago, by Rob Runyan, Jan 17, 2008 -- After serving 30 years in prison in a double-murder case, Johnnie Lee Savory is free on parole, but he still feels trapped by his past. Now Savory, 45, is reaching out to his last option for exoneration, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to ask the governor to order DNA testing that Savory is sure will finally clear his name.

“It wasn’t about me coming home,” Savory said in a news conference Thursday. “It was about me proving my innocence.”

What sets Savory's mission apart from many others is that he has several former prosecutors pushing for the DNA test.

Former U.S. Attorney Thomas Sullivan and four other federal prosecutors sent a letter to Blagojevich this week asking that he order the test.

In addition, authors John Grisham, Noam Chomsky and Studs Terkel and a host of lawyers, professors and religious leaders also lent their names to Savory's cause.

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