Mar 10, 2008 6:29 pm US/Central
Attorneys: Chicago Man Was Wrongfully Convicted
Attorney-Client Privilege Kept Them From Speaking Up Before Man Spent 26 Years In Prison
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Alton Logan has spent the last 26 years in jail on a murder conviction that's now being called into question.
60 Minutes
Two local attorneys kept a secret for more than a quarter of a century. They knew about a wrongful conviction, but could not say anything.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports they finally told their story on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, and went to court Monday.
Alton Logan has spent 26 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. In 1983 he was wrongly convicted of shooting a guard at a McDonald's.
Back then, two men, attorneys Dale Conventry and Jamie Kunz knew Logan was innocent, because they were representing the real killer, Andrew Wilson, who admitted to them he had committed the murder.
But that information didn't become public knowledge until Wilson died last fall and the attorneys finally told their story on "60 Minutes" March 9. They said they kept the secret because they couldn't violate attorney-client privilege.
"I could not figure out a way and still cannot figure out a way, how we could have done something to help Alton Logan that would not have put Andrew Wilson in jeopardy of another capital case," Kunz said.
Logan accepts the explanation, but it still makes him angry.
"Why would you allow this person to be prosecuted, convicted, sent to prison for all these years?" he said.
Logan has been fighting to get his conviction overturned ever since.
His case was back in court Monday, and Kunz was present. His knowledge -- spelled out in this affidavit -- that Logan was not responsible for the crime may be considered as evidence to get Logan a new trial. But a new trial could take months, and Logan's family wants the state to free him now.
"My brother been in jail, has been incarcerated… since 1982, 26 years of his life," Tony Logan said. "He didn't get a chance to raise a family, he didn't get a chance to spend time with me and my younger brother here."
And to make sure another innocent man isn't sent to prison because lawyers don't want to violate client-attorney privileges, some attorneys involved in the case talked Monday about the need to make exceptions to the rule. But until that happens, Kunz had a message for Logan.
"I would say you poor son of a b----. I know you're innocent. I believe you're innocent. I'm sorry I couldn't do more. I wish you luck," Kunz said.
Attorneys who don't want to see any changes to the rules of attorney-client privilege say it would hurt the profession.
Those opposed say it's important that clients know they can trust their lawyers, even if they confess to a crime where someone else is being blamed.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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