James Kluppelberg, who was wrongly convicted and spent nearly 25 years in prison before prosecutors dropped charges against him in 2012, was recently granted a certificate of innocence. According to the judge who granted Kluppelberg’s certificate, he now has a clear record and access to $200,000 in compensation from the state of Illinois for his wrongful conviction.
Kluppelberg, 48, was wrongfully convicted of setting a fire that killed a woman and her five children in 1984. He was exonerated through the help of attorneys at Winston & Strawn and the Exoneration Project at the University of Chicago Law School in May 2012 but wasn’t granted a certificate of innocence until August 2013 because prosecutors had opposed it.
Today, Kluppelberg is a free man with a clear record. “I’m trying to salvage what’s left of my life,” he said. “I’m just trying to live whatever time I have left as peacefully and joyfully as I can.”
Leave a Reply