Judge says he won't be rushed to free man in 1957 killing
CHICAGO (AP) — A northern Illinois judge said he anguishes over allegations that a former Washington state security guard was wrongly convicted in the 1957 slaying of a 7-year-old girl, but he refused Friday to order the man's immediate release from prison at least until a series of required legal steps are completed.
Defense attorneys had asked the court to free Jack McCullough, 76, in a motion filed the day before, citing a scathing new report from DeKalb County State's Attorney Richard Schmack that concluded McCullough couldn't possibly have kidnapped Maria Ridulph on Dec. 3, 1957, as she played in the snow, then choked and stabbed her to death.
Maria's now-70-year-old brother, Charles Ridulph, who attended the Friday hearing, had criticized Schmack and earlier this week filed a motion for a special prosecutor.
Thursday's defense filing, among other things, pointed to how a childhood friend of Ridulph's purportedly identified McCullough as the killer five decades later from an array of six photographs as the man who played with Ridulph before she vanished.
"To use this sort of evidence at a criminal trial in the United States of America shocks the conscience," the filing says.
