USA - Illinois. Wrongfully convicted man, Alstory Simon, 64, Black, freed after 15 years in prison.

Wrongfully convicted man freed after 15 years in prison. Alstory Simon, 64, Black, was released from prison today after spending 15 years behind bars. Cook County Judge Paul Biebel, ordered Simon released from prison after agreeing with prosecutors to dismiss his conviction. A few hours later, Simon, who spent close to 15 years behind bars, walked out of the Jacksonville Correctional Center into a cold, steady rain. Simon was wrongfully convicted of a double murder that occurred in 1982 after the Medill Innocence Project allegedly targeted him as a suspect. The advocacy group was working to free Anthony Porter, a man on death row for the murders of teenagers Jerry Hillard and Marilyn Green. During the Medill Innocence Project's investigation, they came to believe that Simon was responsible for the deaths. The group, led by former Northwestern University Journalism Professor David Protess, was established in 1999, and confronted Simon about the murders that same year. Student Tom McCann and Private Investigator Paul J. Ciolino spoke to William Taylor, who, in December 1998, recanted his original statements, saying that Chicago police had "threatened, harassed and intimidated" him into accusing Porter. Another student noted that the shot had been fired by a left-handed shooter; Porter was right-handed. On January 29, 1999, Inez Jackson, the estranged wife of Alstory Simon, came forward and said that she had been with Simon when he killed Hilliard in retaliation for "skimming money from drug deals." She also confirmed that she had never met or seen Porter. Her nephew, Walter Jackson, came forward to corroborate her story saying that Simon fled to his apartment after the shooting. Four days later, on February 3, Simon himself confessed to the crime on videotape. Protess and the students came forward with the information. Two days later, Porter was released from prison, having spent 17 years on death row, and the charges against him were dropped the next month. Simon was formally charged with the murders. In September 1999, Alstory Simon pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree murder and was sentenced to 37½ years in prison. In 2005, the two witnesses against Alstory Simon, Inez Jackson and her nephew, Walter Jackson, recanted their statements implicating Simon in the crime. They claimed to have fabricated their stories in order to obtain money and help from David Protess in freeing Sonny Jackson, Inez' son, and Walter Jackson, Inez' nephew, from prison; Walter Jackson was incarcerated for first degree murder at the time. Alstory Simon also recanted his confession, claiming he had been shown a (fabricated) videotape of witnesses implicating him in the crime and had then been promised a short prison sentence and a movie deal if he confessed. "The Innocence Project had bum-rushed my house and accused me of murder," he told Fox News. Simon was a crack abuser at the time, and the Medill Innocence Project allegedly used threats, intimidation, and other coercive tactics to convince him that there were witnesses who saw him commit the crime. According to Simon, the group also told him that they were developing a book about the murders, and that Simon would profit from its royalties. He claimed 2 men impersonating Chicago police officers visited his home, and urged him to confess to avoid the death penalty. He relented, and gave a videotaped confession to the crimes. On October 30, 2014, the State's Attorney for Cook Country, Anita Alvarez, determined that Simon's original confession was false and vacated the charges. "At the end of the day and in the best interests of justice, we could reach no other conclusion but that the investigation of this case has been so deeply corroded and corrupted that we can no longer maintain the legitimacy of this conviction," Alvarez said. Paul Biebel, presiding judge at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, ordered Simon released from prison after agreeing with prosecutors to dismiss his conviction. A few hours later, Simon, 64, who spent close to 15 years behind bars, walked out of the Jacksonville Correctional Center in central Illinois into a cold, steady rain. The Medill Innocence Project, now called the Medill Justice Project, has not commented on Simon's case. David Protess and Paul Ciolino have vigorously denied any wrongdoing, and stand by Simon's guilt. In 2011, Protess was placed on leave from Northwestern University after school officials found that he had deliberately falsified evidence related to a subpoena issued by Cook County for his records in a different wrongful conviction case.