Judge orders release of man who argued he was wrongly convicted of 1991 murder in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Cook County judge this week ordered that a Chicago man be released from prison after more than 30 years.
Hilton Keller spent 33 years, seven months, and four days in prison after being convicted of the May 19, 1991, armed robbery of music and game store owner Ollie Jones at 1940 W. 69th St. in the West Englewood neighborhood.
Keller was only 18 when he was arrested and later tried and convicted in the murder.
Keller has maintained his innocence, saying a gang leader gave police false evidence and he was not given a fair trial.
According to a news release from Keller's attorneys, gang leader Leonard Dawson first pressured a 14-year-old boy in his gang named Deandre Norman to say Keller had confessed to him. Dawson himself later told police he himself was there when Jones existed his store and died on the sidewalk, and claimed he saw Keller run from the store, Keller's attorneys said.
Attorneys said Chicago Police detectives did not investigate the claims by Dawson or Norman and just went ahead with charges against Keller. At Keller's trial, Norman recanted his allegations—only for prosecutors not to question whether Keller had been correctly charged, but instead to ask Dawson to provide new witnesses.
Another witness, Rasheen Black, testified against Keller at trial, prosecutors said. While Keller was in prison many years later in 2019, Black contacted Keller and said he had lied on the witness stand at Dawson's behalf, attorneys said.
Keller filed a post-conviction petition to vacate his conviction, but it took more than five and a half years for the case to be heard, attorneys said.
On Monday, a Cook County judge vacated Keller's murder conviction.
Keller said he will continue to fight in court until he is declared innocent.
