Official innocence granted to Ill. man

CHICAGO, April 18 (UPI) -- An Illinois judge has granted a "certificate of innocence" to man who spent 26 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, his attorney says.

Alton Logan, 55, arrested and charged with killing security guard Lloyd Wickliffe during a robbery at a Chicago South Side McDonald's in 1982, was officially declared innocent Friday by a Cook County judge in a new type of legal action, attorney Jon Loevy told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The lawyer said a certificate of innocence is, in effect, a fast-track pardon created last year by the Illinois Legislature rectify previous failures to give help to wrongly convicted inmates whose sentences were overturned.

"Since I've been home, I've tried to find work, but I've been denied for various reasons -- my lack of job skills, my lack of knowledge about certain jobs," Logan said. "Now, I have the opportunity to get the training that I need."

Logan's conviction was overturned after it was revealed that convicted cop-killer Andrew Wilson admitted he killed Wickliffe, the newspaper said. Wilson died in prison in prison last year.