Lawyers Say New Evidence Proves U City Man Innocent of 1982 Rape, Murder

Lawyers have filed a petition asking the Missouri court to overturn the 1982 murder and rape conviction of a University City man.

George Allen Jr. is serving a 95-year prison sentence for the 1982 rape and murder of 31-year-old Mary Bell in her apartment in LaSalle Park in St. Louis. He has served 29 years.

On Monday, lawyers with The Innocence Project and the Bryan Cave law firm in St. Louis filed a petition with the Cole County Circuit Court asking that Allen's conviction be overturned and he be set free from prison. The petition cites new DNA evidence and a coached confession as proof of Allen's innocence.

Allen's first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal. In a second trial, he was convicted of capital murder, rape, sodomy and burglary.

According to the petition, a month after Bell's murder, police picked up Allen near her neighborhood thinking he was their suspect in the case. Although police eventually realized their mistake, they interrogated Allen anyway, and he ended up making a recorded confession.

At trial, Allen’s mother, sister and his sister’s boyfriend all testified that Allen was at home at his mother's house in University City - some 10 miles away - at the time of Bell's murder. Allen's attorney said there was no way Allen would have been able to get to Bell's home, as approximately 20 inches of snow fell on St. Louis in that time period, in what came to be known as the "Big Snow" of 1982.

The witnesses testified that early in the morning on February 4, 1982, Allen helped to push his sister’s car out of the snow and never left the house after that. 

The petition also stated that DNA evidence could now prove that semen attributed to Allen at his trial did not come from Allen. Allen’s DNA was not found on any of the remaining crime evidence. However, testing did uncover an unidentified male DNA profile on a towel in which the murder weapon was wrapped. DNA testing excluded Allen.

"The presence of a semen sample excluding Allen and matching someone other than the victim’s consensual sex partners is strong proof that someone other than Allen committed the crime," states the petition.

Attorneys also said police and prosecutors influenced the testimony of a critical prosecution witness, who was called to corroborate a small but significant detail from Allen’s confession.

The witness now admits to undergoing hypnosis to help her remember events of the night. The petition states that the highly suggestive practice to get the witness to “remember” was never disclosed to the prosecution or the defense.

Lawyers also noted that Allen is profoundly mentally ill and a diagnosed schizophrenic.

"People with mental illness, such as Mr. Allen, are particularly vulnerable to making a false confession,” said Ameer Gado, one of Allen’s attorneys with Bryan Cave.

For the past 8 years, the Circuit Attorney's office has been working with the Innocence Project to investigate questions regarding Allen's conviction.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce has released a statement regarding Allen;

We understand that the Innocence Project believes that Mr. Allen was wrongfully convicted. We also understand that the original prosecutor and police investigators are strongly convinced of Mr. Allen’s guilt.

After thorough review of this case, we and the original prosecutor believe the DNA and other evidence neither confirms nor refutes the jury verdict in this matter.