CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The third trial for a man who spent nearly 40-years in prison for the 1982 murder of a Chicago police officer ended in stunning fashion Thursday when special prosecutors abruptly dropped the charges.
Prosecutors announced the decision after more than a week of trial, just after a current Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, Nicholas Trutenko, testified during the defense case.
There were gasps in the courtroom when Assistant State's Attorney Nicholas Trutenko was on the witness stand for the defense.
He admitted he had a longtime friendship with a central witness in Jackie Wilson's second trial in 1989, when Trutenko was in private practice and that they'd spoken to the man as recently as this week.
He said he never thought he needed to disclose the relationship when he joins the state's attorney's office.
The Tribune reported it was a stunning twist in a case that has had no shortage of them in the past four decades.
Jackie Wilson and his brother went to prison for the 1982 murders of Chicago Police Officers Richard O'Brien and William Fahey.
Wilson was retried for O'Brien's murder only, and that conviction was thrown out two years ago when the judge agreed he confessed after being tortured.
The decision means that Wilson cannot be tried a fourth time for the killing of Richard O'Brien. According to the Tribune, Wilson was being tried again despite successfully arguing in prior hearings that he was tortured into confessing to taking part in the killings by notorious ex-Chicago police Commander Jon Burge.
