Andy Hale had less than a half hour Tuesday morning Oct. 6 to convince the Illinois Prisoner Review Board to recommend to Gov. JB Pritzker a posthumous pardon for Chester Weger.
Hale is a Chicago attorney who has spent the last decade working to exonerate Weger, who was convicted of the murders of three Riverside women March 16, 1960 at downstate Starved Rock State Park.
Tuesday may have been the final step in a long journey for him on behalf of Weger, who was paroled in 2019 – but never exonerated. Weger died in June 2025. In addition to Hale, Weger’s sister, Mary Pruett, spoke, as did his son, John Weger, along with Thomas J. Homer, Illinois Appellate Court retired justice…