Judge Exonerates Fourth Member of Dixmoor Five

Robert Veal spent 10 years in prison for the rape and murder of a 14-year old girl

Robert Veal, one of the five men who became known as the Dixmoor Five, was exonerated Monday of rape and murder charges in the case of a 14-year old girl killed in Dixmoor in 1991.

Three of the five men were exonerated last month after DNA evidence linked another person to the crime. But the judge in the case denied vacating the sentences of the other two men saying it came too late under the particular provision.

The judge instead granted a motion to withdraw Veal's guilty plea in the case, an act he was coerced into as a teenager at the time of the conviction.

Veal spent 10 years in prison for the murder, but was released from prison in 2002.

Shainne Sharp is the last remaining member of the Dixmoor Five seeking exoneration in the case.

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