'Rejoicing in opportunity to be cleared'

By CARLA K. JOHNSON CHICAGO - Alan Beaman spent his first days of freedom after 13 years in prison taking a driver's test, learning to use a cell phone and looking through a telescope at the night sky with his dad. Beaman, 35, faces retrial in the 1993 stabbing and strangling death of his ex-girlfriend after the Illinois Supreme Court threw out his conviction in May. The court said prosecutors violated Beaman's constitutional right to due process of law, citing evidence that implicated a second man and was not presented at trial, as well as weak evidence against Beaman. Beaman now says friends rejoicing about his freedom also should pray for the family of murder victim Jennifer Lockmiller, an Illinois State University student from Decatur. In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Beaman talked about how he spent... [read full story]