Justice Failed by Alton Logan

Author:Alton Logan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: True Crime
Publisher: Counterpoint
Published: 2017-10-10T04:00:00+00:00

The motion also cited other new evidence, including affidavits from several witnesses who stated that I wasn’t in the McDonald’s the night of the murder.

In making the case for disclosure, Winston wrote, “Freedom to make these disclosures may open up leads to additional evidence of Alton’s innocence. An innocent man should not be left to languish in prison.”

The case was assigned to Cook County Circuit Court Judge James M. Schreier and, from what I heard, I finally got a break—a big break.

Coventry told Berl that having Judge Schreier preside over the case, “was the best thing that could have happened to Alton Logan. Judge Schreier is one of the few completely honorable men in that court system.”

On January 11, 2008—on the twenty-sixth anniversary of the murder—Judge Schreier granted our motion, stating, “Attorneys Dale Coventry and William Jameson Kunz are free to discuss what Andrew Wilson told them about his involvement in the shooting at McDonald’s on January 11, 1982, with attorneys in this case.” He ruled that Wilson had waived his attorney-client confidentiality privilege regarding the McDonald’s murder once he died. Both Coventry and Kunz testified at that hearing about their conversation with Wilson.

My case was attracting public interest, and we were contacted by 60 Minutes. The producer said they wanted to do a story on me. I think 60 Minutes learned about my case from stories in Chicago media outlets. I told Winston I had no problem with doing that. The reporter, Bob Simon, first talked to Coventry and Kunz and later came to the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois to interview me.

The segment aired Sunday, March 9. As a result, that brought more attention to my unique situation, particularly in Chicago, and from then on I received lots of publicity. Most of it was very favorable, more than favorable. The public was outraged. No one could understand it. Kunz said years later, after my release, he didn’t expect such a reaction. He said many demanded his and Coventry’s disbarment, others recommended the two be fined, and some suggested that he and Coventry be imprisoned for twenty-six years.

“The feeling of release [when I was freed in 2008],” Kunz said, “was so powerful, I could live with the brickbats.”

In his filing that the Kunz–Coventry affidavit should be admitted at our hearing, Winston also argued that extensive evidence existed that I didn’t commit the murder. This evidence included:

Sworn statements by a McDonald’s employee, Gail Hilliard, that the man with the shotgun was Andrew Wilson. As I have mentioned, she hadn’t been called previously to testify in my case. Her statement was corroborated by Pamela Johnson, also a McDonald’s employee, who knew me. She said she didn’t see me in the restaurant the night of the murder. I referred to her earlier as well.

The fact that the shotgun used at McDonald’s was found February 1982 along with guns belonging to the two police officers killed by Andrew Wilson in his aunt’s beauty shop.

Testimony by Donald White to whose home Wilson and Hope went after the shooting that Andrew Wilson committed the crime with Hope.

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