There is no Chester Weger settlement. Weger, convicted in 1961 for the Starved Rock murders and paroled in 2020, died on June 22, 2025, without ever having his conviction overturned, without a certificate of innocence, and without any civil lawsuit filed on his behalf. Because Illinois law requires the underlying conviction to be vacated before any compensation claim can move forward, no legal pathway to a payout was ever open, and none exists now.
What Illinois Law Requires Before a Payout
A person seeking state compensation for wrongful imprisonment in Illinois has to obtain a certificate of innocence from the circuit court where the conviction happened. Only after that certificate issues can a claim be filed with the Illinois Court of Claims. Even when the process succeeds, statutory payouts are capped at roughly $200,000 for anyone imprisoned more than 14 years.1Capitol News Illinois. His Conviction Was Overturned After 35 Years Wrongfully Served; State Law Caps His Compensation at 14 Years
Federal civil rights suits against police or prosecutors are the other avenue, and those have the same threshold: the conviction must first be vacated. Weger’s never was.
The June 2025 Ruling That Closed the Door
Weger and his attorney, Andy Hale, spent years pursuing post-conviction relief after his parole. An evidentiary hearing ran in LaSalle County from May 12 to May 28, 2025. On June 18, 2025, Judge Michael C. Jansz denied the petition to vacate the conviction. He found that many defense witnesses were “not reliable” or “not credible” and that much of the testimony relied on “multiple layers of hearsay.”2Starved Rock Media. Chester Weger’s Murder Conviction Will Stand After He’s Denied Exoneration
The judge acknowledged that the defense’s forensic experts were credible but concluded that a hair recovered from victim Frances Murphy’s glove lacked a sufficient chain of custody after decades of improper storage. He suggested the glove could have been contaminated by a deputy coroner who handled both the victims’ bodies and the remains of Edward Bray on the same day. Bray, one of three brothers linked to the hair by genetic genealogy, died on March 16, 1960, the same day the bodies were found.3Chicago Sun-Times. Starved Rock Killer Chester Weger Conviction 1960 Murders Three Women The mob-hit theory the defense advanced, the judge said, “doesn’t make sense.”
Without a vacated conviction, no certificate of innocence could issue. Without a certificate, no claim in the Court of Claims. And without a vacated conviction, no federal civil suit either.
What Happened After Weger’s Death
Weger died four days after the ruling, on June 22, 2025, of stage-four lung cancer in Clay County, Missouri. He was 86.4NPR Illinois. Starved Rock Killer Chester Weger Dies at 86 After Five Years of Freedom
Hale filed a motion to reconsider the June 18 denial after Weger’s death. On June 30, 2025, Judge Jansz granted a motion by special prosecutor Colleen Griffin to strike it, ruling the reconsideration motion “void” because it had been filed after Weger died. It was stricken from the record.5Shaw Local News Network. La Salle County Judge Ends Weger Case, Says Motion Void After Death
As of mid-2026, no appeal of the June 2025 rulings has been filed. Hale did not respond to press requests for comment on whether he would challenge the decision to strike his motion.5Shaw Local News Network. La Salle County Judge Ends Weger Case, Says Motion Void After Death
What Hale Had Said About a Lawsuit
In September 2024, Hale publicly stated that he “makes no bones about” filing a civil lawsuit if Weger’s murder conviction were overturned.6Starved Rock Media. Chester Weger Attorney Promises Lawsuit if Murder Conviction Gets Overturned The condition never occurred. During a 2026 presentation, Hale suggested that the potential financial liability to the state may have been a factor in the court’s reluctance to vacate the conviction, though that characterization is his, not a finding by any court.7Riverside Brookfield Landmark. Lawyer Says Starved Rock Killer Was Innocent
The Evidence the Court Rejected
The reason a lawsuit was ever plausible turned on evidence the defense developed after Weger’s 2020 release. In October 2021, LaSalle County Circuit Court granted permission to submit crime-scene evidence for modern DNA testing.8Chicago Magazine. Unmaking a Murderer The centerpiece was the hair on Murphy’s glove. Testing confirmed the hair did not match Weger. A cold-case genetic genealogy analysis instead pointed to one of three Bray brothers: Leo (1892–1972), Charles (1894–1981), or Edward (1900–1960).9Shaw Local News Network. Weger Names Men Linked by DNA Genealogy to Starved Rock Murders
The defense also presented an alternative theory that a relative of one of the victims arranged the killings through members of the Chicago Outfit, and produced an affidavit from Bureau County resident Randy Reynolds, who swore that around 1980 or 1981 he heard former Deputy Sheriff Bill Dummett boast at a banquet that Weger was innocent but that Dummett had gotten him to confess.10WSPY News. New Person of Interest Comes Forth in Starved Rock Murder Exoneration Case Weger had recanted his 1960 confession almost immediately after signing it and maintained his innocence for the rest of his life. The court weighed all of this and still declined to vacate.
Is Any Future Settlement Possible
With the conviction intact, the reconsideration motion void, and no appeal on file, there is no active legal proceeding through which a settlement or damages payout could arise. A posthumous effort would require someone with legal standing to reopen the post-conviction case and obtain vacatur, followed by a certificate of innocence, before any Court of Claims filing or federal civil suit could proceed. None of that has happened. Hale has continued to speak publicly about the case and has said “justice does not have an expiration date,” and a documentary is in production, but public advocacy is not litigation.7Riverside Brookfield Landmark. Lawyer Says Starved Rock Killer Was Innocent Barring a new filing that has not yet materialized, the Chester Weger case ends where the June 2025 rulings left it: convicted, uncompensated, and closed.