Brickbat: They'll Only Go So Far

TRBIMG

The Cook County, Illinois, state attorney's office asked a court last year to release James Kluppelberg from prison. Kluppelberg had spent 24 years behind bars after being convicted of setting a fire that killed six people. But witnesses at his trial later recanted their testimony, and the prosecution's own experts now say the investigation was "unreliable" and "no longer supportable." Kluppelberg is a free man, but he still has the conviction on his record, and the state attorney's office is fighting his attempt to get a certificate of innocence. Officials say they cannot prove him guilty but they also can't prove he's innocent.