Coal Valley man freed after prior conviction in son’s death appears in court

A 36-year-old Coal Valley man  – freed from prison after The Innocence Project became involved in the case involving his son’s death – appeared again Tuesday in Rock Island County Court.

Nathaniel Onsrud appeared with his attorneys in a brief online hearing in the courtroom of Judge Frank Fuhr on Tuesday afternoon.

Judge Fuhr said pretrial motions must be on file in the case on or before Jan. 23. A motion is a request from an attorney that the court make a decision on a certain issue before a trial begins. Only a judge can decide the outcome of a motion.

Onsrud, who previously had been sentenced to prison in the death of his son, is now free.

The history of the case

In 2020, Rock Island County’s State’s Attorney  Dora Villareal asked a judge to vacate Onsrud’s conviction.

Earlier, Onsrud had pleaded guilty in the death of his four-month-old son in 2008. That was more than a year after the boy died.

Villareal took another look at the case at the request of the Illinois Innocence Project. She said earlier that Onsrud attempted to withdraw his guilty plea before he was sentenced to 60 years by now-retired Judge “Casey” Stengel, but his motion was denied.

Villareal said more information was retrieved that officials believe was not presented to Onsrud’s attorney back in 2008.

“It is our duty every time a person is charged to ensure that a case has probable cause that we prove it beyond a reasonable doubt in trial,” Villareal said earlier. “Most importantly the defense is given the opportunity to review any and all evidence against them.”

On June 23, 2020, The Illinois Innocence Project posted an announcement on its Facebook page.

“Our client Nathaniel Onsrud was released from Menard Correctional Center today after spending 13 years in prison as an innocent man,” the post says. “Nate was just 20 when he was wrongfully accused of the 2007 murder of his four-month-old baby, who had actually died tragically due to medical complications.”

A status hearing in the case is set for Feb. 14 in Rock Island County Court.