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CHICAGO — A man locked away 26 years for murder was granted a new trial and freed on bond Friday with the help of two attorneys who came forward with a client's confession after he died in prison.
Alton Logan's family took up a collection in the lobby of the Cook County Criminal Courthouse and quickly came up with the $1,000 they needed to post bond.
A dozen friends and family broke into applause as Logan, 54, exited the building. He tearfully said it felt "great" to be free before he was whisked away in a black SUV.
Logan's younger brother, Eugene Logan, was adamant that he would be freed after his retrial.
"Nobody deserves to be locked away for 26 years for something they didn't do," said Logan, 48, of Portland, Ore. "It's a blessing today that my brother's been released. He's not been exonerated yet, but we're going back to court, and it will happen."
Two attorneys recently revealed that their former client, Andrew Wilson, admitted to committing the crime that has sent Logan to prison, but attorney-client privilege had kept them from coming forward.
Wilson's death last year allowed the attorneys to unseal an affidavit stating that Logan was not responsible for the fatal shooting of security guard Lloyd Wickliffe at a McDonald's restaurant in January 1982.
Dale Coventry, one of the attorneys who signed the affidavit, said Friday night that he hopes prosecutors will acknowledge they went in the wrong direction with the case.
"Poor Mr. Logan was locked up all these years for something he didn't do and that's unfortunate that it worked out the way it did," Coventry said. "I wish (the release) had happened a lot sooner, but unfortunately there was no way to do anything."
It would be up to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office to prosecute the case because of a conflict of interest for the Cook County State's Attorney's office. Madigan's spokeswoman, Robyn Ziegler, said no decision had been made about a retrial.
"We will carefully review all the evidence in the case and then decide the appropriate next step," she said.
Logan's uncle, Arthur Gordon, 70, of Milwaukee, waited outside the jail, saying he knew his nephew was innocent.
"I knew he didn't do that because I had been talking to him over the years," Gordon said. "He kept his spirit. He said, 'Uncle I have to stay up. I can't go down. I can't go down.'"
Logan's family planned to take him for a steak and lobster dinner on his first night of freedom.
"I'm going to turn him on to life," Eugene Logan said. "That's what we're going to do. We're going to live it together."
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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- Caryn Rousseau's Column, All of Newsvine
- Groups: Enraged, Examples of the Justice System Gone Awry
- Regions: United States , Chicago
 | Man who claims innocence freed -after 26 years | msnbc.com | Sat Apr 19 | 1 |
- Public Discussion (17)
- Enraged
- Examples of the Justice System Gone Awry
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{"commentId":1684120,"authorDomain":"myriver"}
For now, though, Alton Logan waits. The heavy prison doors clank behind him as he walks down the corridor to his cell. He does not look back.
That would have to be a devil of a feeling.
{"commentId":1684120,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"myriver"}
#1 - Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:30 PM EDT{"commentId":1684727,"authorDomain":"dreadspydr"}
"Better to let 100 guilty men go free than to wrongly convict one innocent man?"
How could the people live with themselves knowing that an Innocent is behind bars for a crime committed by another... I pains me to see our judicial system in such a broken state as to wrongly imprison innocents. Where have our morals gone?
{"commentId":1684727,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"dreadspydr"}
- 1 vote
#2 - Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:57 PM EDT{"commentId":1684972,"authorDomain":"myriver"}
This one can surely be blamed on the lawyers. What a dirty, lowdown thing to do!
{"commentId":1684972,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"myriver"}
{"commentId":1685031,"authorDomain":"dreadspydr"}
Had I been in that same position, I would of happily thrown my law career away and faced civil repercussions to free the innocent man. Plain and simply, the lawyers actions were selfish and immoral!
{"commentId":1685031,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"dreadspydr"}
{"commentId":1685103,"authorDomain":"myriver"}
Plain and simply, the lawyers actions were selfish and immoral!
Nothing short of rude and thoughtless....they should have went to the judge. Hm...I wonder why they did not go to the judge? I would imagine these evil twists of fate are often encountered in many professional fields, putting people in a position of compromising an oath to do the right thing.
Alas! We do not teach Common Sense 101 in our schools.
{"commentId":1685103,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"myriver"}
{"commentId":1685162,"authorDomain":"dreadspydr"}
Where was his conscious over the 26 years that he lived with the knowledge of the man's innocence... It pains me to think of spending one undeserved day in jail or prison, I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to loose 26 years for something that I didn't do. It would make me want to choke the lawyer until his eyes pop!
{"commentId":1685162,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"dreadspydr"}
{"commentId":1685554,"authorDomain":"zyrol"}
a tragic story that epitomizes what's wrong with the criminal justice system in this country. also, i might add, one of the awkwardest and poorest-written news stories i've seen in some time. how does someone like this become an ap writer? who's keeping silent on that one?!
{"commentId":1685554,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"zyrol"}
- 1 vote
#3 - Sun Apr 13, 2008 12:01 AM EDT{"commentId":1685801,"authorDomain":"asianbrad"}
A tough tale, but one with a potentially happy ending. The lawyers DID do the right thing by not revealing their secret. The blame does fall upon the prosecutors and the police, as well as the jury of that case. I applaud the lawyers for their fortitude for maintaining their clients' confidentiality while also preserving the truth in case there was a time they could reveal it. The man might have lost 26 years, but this is just one exception out of millions of cases with the correct ending. For the lawyers to have done otherwise would have been "dirty, "lowdown", "rude", "thoughtless" and "immoral". While any time or life lost erroneously IS tragic, the lawyers upheld the ethics of their profession, which is requisite for a criminal justice system to function. We need MORE lawyers with this sort of ethical fiber.
{"commentId":1685801,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"asianbrad"}
- 1 vote
#4 - Sun Apr 13, 2008 2:08 AM EDT{"commentId":1685941,"authorDomain":"sadaist"}
My God! Sharon Cohen is an AP writer? She shouldn't even write grocery lists. This story was horribly written. With such a good story, it practically writes itself. No need to make it an over worded & poorly written novella. I suppose she's just trying to stand out from all of the other writers. Well done Sharon. You definitely stand out.
{"commentId":1685941,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"sadaist"}
- 1 vote
#5 - Sun Apr 13, 2008 4:02 AM EDT{"commentId":1686331,"authorDomain":"bartning"}
Clipping to my column and Examples of the Justice System Gone Awry, the system has many more cases like this because I've seen a lot of injustice in using it myself. On the other hand, many guilty also don't even get charged! A day's too long for an innocent man, let alone 26 years!
{"commentId":1686331,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"bartning"}
- 2 votes
#6 - Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:18 AM EDT{"commentId":1686351,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
{"commentId":1686416,"authorDomain":"cletuswilbury"}
In most of these cases, when one goes back one sees the evidence for conviction is very slim.
This case is instructive for me: DNA EVIDENCE: Officials admit error, dismiss case
In a preliminary hearing, one of the female victims identified Sotolusson as her attacker. Sotolusson remained adamant that he was wrongly accused.
That's quite a coincidence!
{"commentId":1686416,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"cletuswilbury"}
- 2 votes
#8 - Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:42 AM EDT{"commentId":1686426,"authorDomain":"cletuswilbury"}
In this case: Alton Logan's Conviction
Witnesses identified Logan along with Edgar Hope as the two perpetrators of the crime. A few days later, however, while police were hunting down brothers Andrew and Jackie Wilson for an unrelated murder of two officers, a raid on Andrew's suspected hiding place unearthed a shotgun that tested positive as the gun used in the McDonald's shooting. However, because there were allegedly only two perpetrators in the McDonald's robbery/shooting, and because the police already had two suspects in custody, charges were never filed against Andrew Wilson in that case.
concealing exclusionary evidence by police?
{"commentId":1686426,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"cletuswilbury"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1686462,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
concealing exclusionary evidence by police?
Not unheard of, Nifong did the same thing. It's not uncommon.
{"commentId":1686462,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1686468,"authorDomain":"cletuswilbury"}
exculpatory evidence, that is
{"commentId":1686468,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"cletuswilbury"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1686513,"authorDomain":"cletuswilbury"}
I googled around and it's worse: The Greater of Two Evils
Police hunting down Wilson after Fahey and O'Brien were murdered came across a shotgun that according to a ballistics test fired a shell recovered from the McDonald's robbery. Logan's attorney, Jack Rimland, tried to introduce the shotgun into evidence and wasn't allowed to.
What you bet, judge is an ex-prosecutor?
{"commentId":1686513,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"cletuswilbury"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1687798,"authorDomain":"bartning"}
Cletus:
Great comment! I'm just a tad enraged but more astounded, clipping to Enraged.
{"commentId":1687798,"threadId":"249145","contentId":"1426666","authorDomain":"bartning"}
- 2 votes
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