James Kluppelberg, 46, was released from prison Thursday after serving 24 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Kluppelberg was convicted in the 1984 arson deaths of six people after he was connected to the crime by a friend who later admitted he lied.
Kluppelberg, who always maintained his innocence, was exonerated and released after Cook County prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the case. A spokesperson for the Cook County State’s Attorney told the Chicago Tribune that prosecutors conducted a “comprehensive post-conviction reinvestigation” including hiring an expert to look at the forensic evidence and concluded that they could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Kluppelberg’s attorneys, Karl Leonard of the law firm Winston & Strawn and Gayle Horn of The Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School, hired a fire expert who debunked much of the science used to declare the fire an arson in 1984. Leonard and Horn were surprised by the prosecution’s decision to dismiss the charges and Leonard told the Tribune it was their way to “avoid deciding the merits of the case.”
Kluppelberg had hoped to be home before his birthday on June 24th and now he will be.
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