The Chicago Case of Alton Logan

In the ABA Journal, Martha Neil has, "Inmate’s Freedom Hinges on Lawyers’ Revelation That Dead Client Killed Guard in '82."  It's an ethical situation that bears similarity to the resolution of Daryl Atkins' re-sentencing.

Almost 26 years ago, as two Chicago public defenders were representing a client accused of murdering two police officers, their case suddenly got a lot tougher.

A lawyer defending another man accused of murdering a security guard in an unrelated case told the two PDs that his client said that their client, Andrew Wilson, was guilty of the security guard's murder, too. And, when Dave Coventry and Jamie Kunz confronted Wilson, he admitted the accusation was true, reports the Chicago Tribune.

"He kind of chuckled over the fact that someone else was charged with something he did," recalls Coventry, now 64. However, he said that his two lawyers could reveal the truth after his death.

Because the two PDs were representing Wilson, attorney-client privilege applied and they couldn't ethically tell anyone else about his admitted role in the January 1982 killing on Chicago's far south side. However, they wrote down the details in a notarized affidavit and locked it in a metal box. Last week, after Wilson's death of natural causes in November, as he was serving a life sentence for the police officers' murders, Coventry and Kunz testified in court about their client's confession to them.

That sets the stage for the potential release of Alton Logan, 54, who was convicted of the security guard's murder based on witness testimony.

Maurice Possley originally reported, "Inmate's freedom may hinge on secret kept for 26 years," in the Chicago Tribune earlier this week.

The two lawyers testified in court last week that they were bound by the attorney-client privilege and Wilson's admonition that they only reveal his admission after his death. Wilson, who was serving a life sentence for the murders of two Chicago police officers, died of natural causes Nov. 19.

Their testimony sets the stage for what could be a legal battle over the  admission of the secret in court.

"The prosecution should put on the white hat and get this poor innocent man  out," Coventry said Friday.

Assistant Illinois Atty. Gen. Richard Schwind, who is representing the  state, declined to comment because the case is pending.

Coventry and Kunz both recounted separately how they had been haunted over the years by knowing that they had evidence of Logan's innocence, but could not legally disclose it until Wilson died.

"It was a relief," said Kunz, 70. "Oh my God, I have been wanting this. I have considered this to be the truth. I have been wanting this to come out for years. I don't know anything about Alton Logan. It hurts to know somebody is in prison all these years and is innocent."

And:

Assistant Cook County public defender Harold Winston, who is currently representing Logan in a motion for a new trial, said that he had heard rumors for years that Kunz and Coventry had information about Wilson's involvement in the McDonald's case. After Wilson died, he reached out to Kunz.

Kunz contacted Coventry, who found the metal box and unsealed the envelope. Both were summoned to court Jan. 11, where Criminal Court Judge James Schreier ruled that they could reveal the conversation with Wilson and the contents of the affidavit. After hearing their testimony, the judge asked for legal briefs on the admissibility of Wilson's statement that he -- not Logan -- killed the McDonald's guard.