A wrongfully convicted Chicago man who spent 33 years in prison was set to be released from custody on Monday night just in time for the holidays.
Hilton Keller was just 18 years old when, according to his attorney, he was framed by a senior gang member and Chicago police for the armed robbery and killing of Ollie Jones, a game store owner. At that time, prosecutors went off the word of a younger gang member, who later recanted and admitted he lied, Keller's attorney said.
But prosecutors moved forward with their case, allegedly relying on the words of two other lying witnesses.
Information that legally was supposed to be passed on to Keller’s defense team was not. Then, in May of 2019, one of the people who falsely testified against Keller spoke with him from jail, owning his role in the unjust conviction.
In March, Keller took a deal that cut his sentence from 70 to 60 years, and because of "good time," he was released for seven months. Keller's attorney said he took the deal, because he was desperate to see his dying mother in Texas, whom he never actually made it to see.
Keller then decided he wanted to vacate his conviction, demanding it be thrown out as opposed to having his sentence shortened. So because that agreement was vacated, he returned to prison while his legal team fought for the conviction to be tossed, which it finally was on Monday.
"For all these years, me within my heart, I knew he didn't do it," Gertrude Barber, Keller's aunt said. "I didn't know what we could do to help him out.. but God saw fit today."
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The man who Keller's defense team believes committed the crime - that senior gang member - has since died.
Keller's attorney said they will file for a certificate of innocence from the Cook County Criminal Court after the first of the year. The Cook County State's Attorney's Office has 30 days to decide if they want to re-try the case, meaning Keller is on pre-trial release.
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NBC Chicago reached out to the State's Attorney's office and had yet to receive a response as of Monday night.
