Charges dropped against man who says he was wrongfully imprisoned

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - A man who spent nearly 30 years in prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit walked out a free man Friday, another possible victim of former police commander Jon Burge. 

It was an emotional day at the Leighton Criminal Court Building for Jame Gibson who says he was tortured by Burge into confessing to a 1980 double murder he says he didn’t commit.

Gibson cried and hugged his family after learning all charges were dismissed. Gibson had been in prison for 29 years.

Gibson and his attorneys had come to the courthouse to ask that Cook County Special Prosecutor Robert Milan be removed from the case because they say he had unnecessarily delayed the case, accusing them of profiting on it.

Instead, the judge wiped the slate clean for Gibson.

Gibson gave an impassioned plea to the media after the decision was handed down.

“I leave with a heavy heart but I know how it’s going to be for those who are left behind," Gibson said. "So I’m asking the next time, like you guys at Fox, I wrote 10,000 letters I wrote you, you, and you, and you didn’t respond. All I’m asking for now, that if someone writes you a letter like that, right write'em back."

Gibson’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, says the state will now have to compensate Gibson for the time he spent wrongfully behind bars.