CHICAGO TRIBUNE: …Cook County State’s Attorney’s Anita Alvarez said in a news release that “newly developed evidence” prompted the decision.
Her Conviction Integrity Unit investigated his claim of innocence in the rape and stabbing of Kristina Hickey, a Rich East High School sophomore whose body was found in the bushes outside a Park Forest shopping center.
DNA evidence indicated the girl was sexually assaulted by a man who hasn’t been identified, said his lawyer, Lauren Kaeseberg, a staff attorney at the Illinois Innocence Project, which is based at the University of Illinois-Springfield. The key witness against Abernathy recanted, Kaeseberg said.
“Our client has maintained he was innocent of this horrendous crime from the moment he was arrested in 1985 — he has fought to clear his name for the last three decades and his family, who never stopped believing in him, is elated to bring him home today,” said Kaeseberg in a release. “He was only 17-years-old at the time this crime occurred, and 18-years-old when he was arrested. He has been through an unimaginable ordeal, but we are so thankful that justice has finally arrived for Mr. Abernathy.”… (more)
