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Jack McCullough To Sue State For Wrongful Conviction

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 76-year-old Washington state man released from an Illinois prison last week---after a prosecutor concluded he was wrongly convicted in the 1957 killing of a young Sycamore girl--says he intends to sue state officials.

Jack McCullough says his five years in prison punished his whole family.

His conviction for the murder of seven-year-old Maria Ridulph was vacated on Friday.

Judge William P. Brady also ordered McCullough's release on bond, pending a new trial.

DeKalb County State's Attorney Richard Schmack has said newly obtained phone records show McCullough could not possibly have abducted and killed Maria Ridulph in Sycamore in 1957.

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Defense attorneys and Schmack argued McCullough should be released, and Brady agreed, vacating McCullough's conviction, ordering a new trial, and allowing McCullough to go free on bond.

"This court does believe the defendant has met his burden, and it will grant the request for a new trial," Brady said.

Schmack has said he does not plan to retry McCullough, but Brady said a special prosecutor could be appointed to review the case. Maria's older brother, Charles, has asked Brady to appoint a special prosecutor to prosecute McCullough, and he has hired an attorney to help him with that request.

Brady will consider that request on April 22, but indicated a special prosecutor would have the discretion to decide what to do with the case after reviewing all the evidence.

In December 1957, McCullough was a 17-year-old Sycamore resident called John Tessier whose family lived about two blocks from the street corner where Maria was last seen.

McCullough was arrested in 2011 in Seattle, nearly 54 years after Maria's death. His trial the next year is considered one of the oldest cold cases to go to trial in the U.S. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

At the time of McCullough's arrest, authorities said McCullough had been an initial suspect in the investigation, but the case went cold after he joined the military and changed his name.

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