Man convicted of 1995 murder gets new trial

FOX 32 NEWS - Bill Amor, who was convicted in the 1995 murder of his mother-in-law at her Naperville condo, walked outside the DuPage County Jail Tuesday a free man.

Amor was joined outside the jail by members of the Illinois Innocence Project. They took the case five years ago, successfully showing the confession he made back in 1995 was false.

Bill Amor is now a 62-year-old man, and he got to wear street clothes today for the first time in 22 years. It was a happy moment.

In 1995, Amor admitted he left a smoldering cigarette on a newspaper, wet from spilled vodka. Ten minutes later, Marianne Miceli's condo caught fire. But members of the Illinois Innocence Project say the fire couldn't have started this way.

"We can now look at this case with the eyes from 2017 with real science applied and know that there was really no arson in this case,” said attorney Lauren Kaeseberg.

Neighbors recall the day, and wish Amor the best with his upcoming trial.

"God bless him, I hope that it didn't happen the way that I heard that it happened and that he is innocent and he gets another chance,” said neighbor Patti Ford.

Since day one, Amor has proclaimed his innocence, fighting all these years for another shot. He learned two days ago that will really happen.

"Yeah I haven't slept much. I haven't eaten much. I haven't done much except wait for this moment. It's not something you can really prepare for,” Amor said.

The retrial is set for September.