Prosecutors: Students paid witnesses

CHICAGO, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Two witnesses said Illinois journalism students paid them to make statements the students hoped would cast doubt on a man's murder conviction, prosecutors said.

Cook County state's attorneys said in court documents filed Tuesday that the Northwestern University students paid the witnesses, Tony Drakes and Michael Lane, to give videotaped statements in the case of Anthony McKinney, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The students believe McKinney, who received a life sentence, was wrongly convicted of the 1978 murder of a security guard.

"This evidence shows that Tony Drakes gave his video statement upon the understanding that he would receive cash if he gave the answers that inculpated himself and that Drakes promptly used the money to purchase crack cocaine," the filing said.

The Tribune reported prosecutors also allege the students, with Northwestern's Innocence Project, have refused to turn over records of two interviews with Lane, who said he was paid "$50 to $100, but did not sign anything or give information."

Professor David Protess, the director of the Innocence Project, called the prosecutors' allegations "so filled with factual errors that if my students had done this kind of reporting or investigating, I would have given them an F."

The students have succeeded in getting McKinney another day in court.