Apr 18, 2008 10:36 pm US/Central
Wrongly Convicted Man Released After 26 Years
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The man who spent 26 years in prison for a crime he says he didn't commit was released on bond Friday night.
Alton Logan's release was made possible because of two attorneys who this year dropped a bombshell when they admitted Logan was the wrong man convicted of a crime.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports Logan had been serving a life sentence for the 1982 murder of a McDonald's security guard.
Another man, Andrew Wilson, told his lawyers years ago that he was the real killer. But under attorneys' rules of ethics, the lawyers were bound to remain silent.
"[I] got a glass of champagne right now and I'm feeling good," Logan said Friday night.
"I could not figure out how we could have done anything different," Wilson's attorney Jamie Kunz said in a "60 Minutes" interview.
But earlier this year, Wilson died and his attorneys filed affidavits telling what they knew.
After a court hearing Friday, Logan was released on $1,000 bond.
"The judge made a good decision granting him a new trial," said Alton Logan's brother, Eugene Logan. "He's been innocent for 26 years."
On the advice of his attorneys, Logan declined to speak with reporters Friday night, but his brother says neither Alton, nor his family, harbor any ill feeling toward the two lawyers who had to live with a terrible secret.
"We're the kind of family, we know how to forgive," Eugene Logan said. "Don't have any regrets for the attorneys. They didn't have to come forward."
Kunz told CBS 2 he was crying during Friday's court hearing, and so was Alton Logan.
Logan's brother says he hopes Alton will eventually move with him to Portland, Ore. He says Alton's tired of the state of Illinois.
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