A man who spent nearly 30 years in prison for the 1984 sexual assault and slaying of a 15-year-old suburban Chicago girl has left prison a free man after a judge threw out charges against him.
Illinois Corrections Department spokesman Tom Shaer said 48-year-old Christopher Abernathy was released Wednesday after a judge agreed to a prosecutor's request to vacate his life sentence.
His attorney, Lauren Kaeseberg, says Abernathy didn't make a statement as he left the Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet. But Kaesberg says Abernahty is "just so happy that he's able to go home, that he's free and gets to be with his family."
Abernathy was sentenced to life in 1987, but DNA testing last August excluded him from the slaying of the Park Forest High School student.
The Cook County State's Attorney's office said a re-investigation into the case began last May after the Conviction Integrity Unit received a request from Abernathy's attorneys requesting DNA testing.
Cook Conty State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said there were several troubling aspects revealed during the re-investigation, including the fact that Abernathy may have suffered from a diminished mental capacity and that he wrote and signed a confession that had contained no significant details from the crime. The confession was one of the key pieces of evidence that was used to convict him at trial.
“The decision to vacate this conviction comes as a result of a comprehensive investigation by my office into the facts of this case which has revealed evidence that tends to exonerate Christopher Abernathy for the commission of this crime,” Alvarez said in a statement. “Today’s action in this extremely tragic case once again represents the commitment that I made when we began the Conviction Integrity Unit, that we would pro-actively investigate and review cases that involve possible wrongful or questionable convictions and take proper action.”
