Gary Thibodeau, the man who was convicted of Heidi Allen's kidnapping in the 1995, will get another chance to appeal his conviction. The appellate division of the state supreme court has agreed to hear Thibodeau's case for why there should be another trial.
It's an appeal of an Oswego County judge's ruling in March that denied his request. Syracuse Post-Standard reporter John O'Brien, who broke the news, said the decision is quite significant for the defense, but not necessarily a victory.
"They looked at this submission from Thibodeau's lawyers and the Oswego County D.A. and found that, 'We think there's enough here that we need to look more. We need to hear the full appeal to decide whether he gets a new trial,'" O'Brien said. "They have not said yet that the lower court made an error or was wrong. They're just saying there's matter of law and fact that we need to review."
Thibodeau's lawyer Lisa Peebles says new evidence that has surfaced since he was convicted of Allen's kidnapping in 1995 that can exonerate him. Much of that evidence was deemed inadmissible by the Oswego County judge. O'Brien called some of it compelling, such as the "key to their case" -- a taped phone call between two women unrelated to Allen that implicated three potential suspects in the case.
Allen went missing from a New Haven convenience store on Easter morning of 1994. Her body has never been found.
