Monday, November 24, 2014

Illinois Inmate Released

It's another powerful alstory and commentary on the AmeriKan ju$tu$ $y$tem:

"Inmate freed in landmark Illinois case" Associated Press  October 31, 2014

CHICAGO — A prisoner whose confession helped free a death row inmate in a case that was instrumental to ending capital punishment in Illinois was released Thursday after he recanted, and a prosecutor said there was powerful evidence that the other man was responsible.

Alstory Simon’s confession gained international attention in 1999, largely because of an investigation by a journalism professor and a team of students from Northwestern University that helped secure Anthony Porter’s release days before he was to be executed. He had spent 16 years on death row for slayings he and his supporters maintained he did not commit.

Because of constitutional protections against double jeopardy, there is no legal way to retry Porter.

Simon told reporters outside Jacksonville Correctional Center that he was angry.

‘‘I’m not angry at the system. I’m angry at the people who did what they did to me,’’ he said, crying as he said that his mother had died while he was behind bars.

Simon was sentenced to 37 years in prison. But the Cook County state’s attorney’s office began re-examining his conviction last year after his lawyer presented evidence that he had been threatened with the death penalty and coerced into confessing with promises that he would get an early release and share in the profits from book and movie deals....

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Also seeChicago archdiocese releases more abuse records

Would $500 keep you quiet?