An Illinois man denied a pardon by Gov. Mike Pence for a robbery he says he didn't commit has asked for a new trial in a bid to win the exoneration.
Attorney Eliot Slosar filed a petition Monday asking an Elkhart County judge to grant Keith Cooper a new trial.
The Indianapolis Star reports the Indiana Parole Board recommended in 2014 that Pence grant the 49-year-old Chicago man a pardon. However, an attorney for the Republican vice presidential candidate notified Slosar last month that Cooper must first exhaust all court options before Pence will consider one.
After an appeals court overturned a co-defendant's conviction, Cooper elected in 2005 to be released with a felony record rather than face a new trial before the same judge who convicted him.