Brickbat: They'll Only Go So Far
TRBIMGThe 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.