The Brief
- Hilton Keller, who has served over 30 years for a crime he maintains he didn’t commit, is being released just days before Christmas after a Cook County judge vacated his sentence, citing an unconstitutional trial.
- Keller was convicted at 18 for the May 1991 armed robbery and murder of Ollie Jones but has consistently maintained his innocence, claiming that critical evidence was withheld and a gang leader may have framed him.
- Keller’s legal team plans to continue efforts to have him declared innocent, with a petition to begin the process expected to be filed in the new year.
CHICAGO – Just two days before Christmas, Hilton Keller, a Chicago man who has served more than three decades behind bars is being released after a wrongful conviction ruling.
On Monday, a Cook County Circuit Court judge vacated his murder conviction after determining that Keller was not given a fair trial in the nineties.
Keller, now 52, has been serving a lengthy sentence for the May 1991 armed robbery and murder of Ollie Jones, the owner of a music and game store near 69th and Damen.…