Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Studio: CBS
• DVD Release Date: March 25, 2008
• Run Time: 12 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B00153B0V4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,940 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

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5.0 out of 5 stars How can you let a man rot in jail for 26 years for something he didn't do?, December 20, 2009

By 

whatever_gong82 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: 60 Minutes - 26-Year Secret (March 9, 2008) (DVD)

I've watched this entire interview, from the points of view of the two Public Defenders, Dale Coventry and W. Jamie Kunz, and from the point of view of Alton Logan, who was allowed to rot in prison for 26 years for a crime he didn't do.

Dale Coventry and W. Jamie Kunz were Public Defenders in Chicago that had proof that it was not Logan that murdered a guard at a Chicago McDonald's back in the early 1980's, it was another person, Andrew Wilson, whom they represented, that was already a cop-killer. Because of the lawyer-client privilege rules, they couldn't tell the world what they knew.

So, they got a statement from Wilson in which Wilson admitted he was the trigger-man of the crime. And here's the catch: the lawyers were not to reveal it until Wilson's death. So the two lawyers of Wilson put it into a sealed envelope, placed it into a fireproof metal box owned by Dale Coventry, where it would stay until Wilson would die, whenever that would be. The lawyers would only reveal the information if Logan was to be sentenced to death, which he was spared by 2 critical votes in a 10-2 jury decision during his trial for the McDonald's shooting.

Because of the document being put away, and Logan being spared the Death Penalty by those two votes at his trial, Alton Logan was, in effect, 'put away' from having a normal life for 26 years. Think of it: that time he could've used to get married, have children, see the birth of grandchildren, and be working towards retirement.

When Wilson finally died, the two lawyers of Wilson's got the sealed envelope out of the fireproof box, and revealed it to the Cook County, Illinois authorities.

Postscript: after this episode of '60 Minutes' aired in 2008, Logan was finally released from prison after doing 26 years, and is currently suing (as I type this)Cook County, and infamous former Chicago police commander and rogue cop Jon Burge.