By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
ROCKFORD — The reality of Alan Beaman’s 50-year prison sentence set in after his first appeal was denied.
At first, he counted the days between post-conviction hearings, hoping the justice system would move swiftly and his innocence would set him free.
Eventually he stopped counting.
Days piled into months and then years for Beaman, who was imprisoned for the killing of his ex-girlfriend in Normal while he was 130 miles away in Rockford.
By the time his conviction was overturned, he had spent 4,836 days in prison.
Convicted at age 22, he lost more than 13 years during the prime of his life. Three of his grandparents and his dog died while he was in prison. He missed milestones like the weddings and births of family members. He received the diploma he earned from Illinois Wesleyan University before his conviction in the mail while he sat inside Menard Correctional Center.
“That’s a lot of life to lose,” said Gretchen Beaman, his wife of 11 years. She insists on counting the time by days because it better illustrates the magnitude of what he lost.
“It was day by day by day by day,” she said of his wrongful prison sentence. “It wasn’t 13 years, two months … it was a day by day.”
Today marks a new milestone in the life Alan Beaman, now 48, has built for himself since the Illinois Supreme Court overturned his conviction citing evidence the prosecution withheld that would likely have changed the jury’s verdict. Today is day 4,836 since he was released from prison, meaning he has now lived freely after his release as long as he was locked up.
“It snuck up on me,” Alan Beaman said of the milestone. “Regular life is consuming for me, and I guess at this point of my life, life deserves to be consuming for me.”
‘Looking ahead’
Today Beaman’s life is centered around his family. You may find him coaching the youngest of his two daughters soccer team. He’s worked for roughly a decade as a design and application engineer with Gleason Cutting Tools in Rockford, the community where he was raised.
“Am I angry, yes. Do I want accountability, yes. But I wouldn’t describe myself as bitter about it anymore. I’m looking ahead and not looking back,” he said. “I’m not going to let my frustrations in the past take over and keep me in prison for the rest of my life, too, emotionally and mentally.”
Now more than 26 years after his wrongful conviction, Beaman is still seeking redress from the police and prosecutors involved in his case. He filed a lawsuit in McLean County Circuit Court seeking damages in March 2014, only to have it dismissed about two years later. But in July the Illinois Supreme Court overturned an Appellate Court decision and remanded the case back to court for trial.
“There is obviously a quest for accountability,” he said. “I will be out longer than I’ve been in and I’m still trying to fulfill that quest.”
Beaman was convicted in March 1995 for the Aug. 25, 1993, killing of Jennifer Lockmiller, a 22-year-old student at Illinois State University. At his initial trial, the prosecution withheld information about a person identified as John Doe, who had a previous romantic relationship with Lockmiller and lived less than two miles from the apartment where she was found strangled to death, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. Doe was previously charged with abusing his girlfriend.
Lockmiller’s killing remains unsolved.
Faith and innocence
The Illinois Supreme Court overturned his conviction on May 22, 2008, and Beaman was released from prison on June 26, 2008. Prosecutors dropped all charges against him on Jan. 29, 2009, and in 2013 he was granted a certificate of innocence. Gov. Pat Quinn later pardoned him in January 2015 based on actual innocence.
He was scared, bitter, angry and defiant as a 22-year-old sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He was self-destructive, smoking 40 to 50 rolls a day without a filter to the point that he was “almost emaciated,” holding just 130 pounds on his 5’9 frame.
Thoughts of suicide briefly entered his mind after his appeal was denied, but instead he decided to make the most of the life he had. He started exercising, quit smoking and got a job in the kitchen. He worked various other jobs in prison, got involved in the church and provided hospice care.
“I wanted to have as much life in me as I could whenever I did get out,” said Beaman, who got regular visits and letters from family members and friends. “Having other people have faith around me made it easier for me to have faith.”
Faith is at the forefront of Beaman’s life now. He attends Christ United Methodist Church, where he met his wife roughly nine months after his release. He still deals with the trauma from his time in prison but prefers to keep his focus on the present.
“I’m trying to use this for whatever I can,” he said. “To get something out of it and let God forge me into the person he wants me to be.”
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.