CHICAGO (AP) — A suburban Chicago man has been freed from a state prison after his conviction for a 1999 murder was thrown out after much of the evidence used against him was deemed invalid.
Jason Strong said Thursday he was very happy to be going home after he walked out of Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois. He asserted he was an “innocent man.”
The 39-year-old Strong was accused in the death of Mary Kate Sunderlin. The woman’s body was found in a Lake County forest preserve.
Lake County prosecutors agreed to throw out the case after pathologists concluded recently authorities had been wrong about the time of the victim’s death and the nature of her injuries.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly signed an order mandating Strong’s release during a hearing Thursday.
