Imprisoned for murder at 13, exonerated at 30

An exonerated 30-year-old man who spent more than half his life in prison for a murder Cook County prosecutors now say someone else committed said Monday that he is "happy to be alive."

Thaddeus Jimenez was 13 years old when he was arrested and convicted in 1993 to 50 years in prison for the murder of Eric Morro. He was released from Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg on Friday after Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez asked a judge to vacate his sentence.

"I'm happy to be alive today after spending a little over 16 years in the Department of Corrections," he said Monday.

Witnesses originally said Jimenez fired the gunshot that killed Morro. Juan Carlos Torres, 30, of Hammond, Ind., has been charged with the murder. He is awaiting extradition to Illinois.

Alvarez did not say what evidence led her to ask the judge to vacate Jimenez's sentence or to charge Torres.

"This is a situation where we don't see any police misconduct or prosecutorial misconduct," Alvarez said, adding the evidence in 1993 appeared to point to Jimenez.

Dropping the case is "a powerful example of a prosecutor's office living up to the highest example," said one of Jimenez's attorneys, Steven Drizin.

The Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions investigated Jimenez's case and in September 2007 it sent its findings to the Cook County state's attorney's office. The prosecutor's office then completed its own case review.

The case proves police and prosecutors need continued training on witness interrogation and how to verify their accounts, Alvarez said.

Jimenez on Monday thanked his lawyers and his mother, who did he said did not give up hope he would be released.

"I survived because of the love and support I received from my mother, who battled cancer and other illnesses while I was away," he said.