Man Freed After 20 Years In Prison For Double Murder

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man who spent more than 20 years in prison for ordering a hit on a van that killed two teenage girls in 1995 was released from Stateville Correctional Center on Tuesday.

Matt Sopron, 45, was freed Tuesday after a hearing where witnesses recanted their testimony.

They said they were encouraged to give false testimony by a former assistant state's attorney.

It's a story CBS 2 has been following for a couple of years now. Sopron and his family believed it would happen one day, and Tuesday was the day.

"Without the work of these wonderful lawyers where would we be? He'd spend the rest of his life in prison, and nobody cared," Sopron's mother Pat Sopron said.

"I'm dedicating my life to supporting all of these guys that are still in there wrongfully convicted, and there's a whole list of them," he said.

After leaving Stateville, the family headed to their Southwest Side home where they celebrated with pizza and champagne.

Sopron's mother says it means the world to have him home for Christmas this year.

She also said the family would not rule out the possibility of filing a civil case in the future.

In court, Pat Sopron said, "Someone has to be held accountable for ruining someone's life."