PONTIAC, Ill. (AP) — A man
convicted of rape nearly 30 years ago -- who said Chicago police tortured him
until he confessed to the crime -- was released from prison Wednesday after
spending the better part of three decades behind bars.
Stanley Wrice walked out of the Pontiac
Correctional Center in Illinois Wednesday morning, one day after a Cook County
judge said he should be freed and his conviction should be overturned.
The judge's decision was reached partly
because the police officers involved lied about how they treated Wrice during
his interrogation.
Wrice, 59, was sentenced to 100 years
in prison for the 1982 rape, but he has always claimed the confession was made
after officers repeatedly beat him. The accused officers did not testify at
Tuesday's hearing, citing their constitutional right against
self-incrimination.
Now that Wrice's conviction has been
overturned, it is up to a special prosecutor to decide whether to retry him for
the crime.
Wrice's is the latest case to cast a
shadow over the Chicago Police Department and, more specifically, former Lt.
Jon Burge -- who is accused of falsely obtaining confessions from multiple
suspects during the 1970s and 1980s, several of whom have also been ordered
released from prison in recent years.
Burge was convicted in 2010 of perjury
and obstruction of justice and is currently serving a four year prison
sentence. The city of Chicago has paid out millions of dollars in recent years
to settle lawsuits in cases related to Burge's rule.
