![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bcp9csqjdnau64v6.jpg\")
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CHICAGO<\/strong> – Antonio Porter spent more than two decades in prison for a murder he\u2019s always said he didn\u2019t commit. On Monday night, he went home.<\/p>\n Porter, 50, was released on electronic monitoring while prosecutors decided what to do with the case against him. Last week, a judge vacated his conviction in the 2002 killing of Laymond Harrison, erasing the 71-year sentence that put him away in 2003.<\/p>\n The bond hearing on Monday drew Porter\u2019s mother and a courtroom full of supporters. Some held photos, old ones, the kind that yellow at the edges. When Judge Tyaria Walton said Porter could go home, several people cried.<\/p>\n What matters now is this: Porter\u2019s conviction is gone. The case is back to square one. Prosecutors have to decide if they can still prove it, or if 22 years is where it ends.<\/p>\n What the judge decided:<\/p>\n Cook County Judge Tyaria Walton vacated the conviction last week after finding that a Chicago police detective\u2019s credibility problems were serious enough to undermine the original verdict.<\/p>\n In her written ruling, Walton said the detective\u2019s history of alleged misconduct in other cases raised questions about his testimony in Porter\u2019s trial. The information, she wrote, “could likely change the outcome” of a new trial, though she stopped short of saying it would.<\/p>\n On Monday, she ordered Porter to be released on electronic monitoring. He left custody that night.<\/p>\n Conviction overturned:<\/p>\n Porter was convicted in 2003 of killing Harrison during a dice game outside James Madison Elementary School in Grand Crossing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Prosecutors said it was payback for an earlier killing. Here\u2019s the thing: at trial, four eyewitnesses originally identified Porter to police. Then all four recanted on the stand. Each one told the jury that Porter wasn\u2019t the shooter. One witness said detectives threatened him during questioning, kept him for hours without letting him call his mother.<\/p>\n The jury convicted Porter anyway. Deliberations took less than four hours.<\/p>\n Porter\u2019s legal challenge zeroed in on a Chicago police detective who testified at trial and vouched for the witness statements.\u00a0<\/p>\n Porter\u2019s attorneys pointed to later court findings (in unrelated cases) showing the detective had given false or misleading testimony elsewhere. That called his credibility into question.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n The Cook County State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office is still reviewing the ruling and the evidence.<\/p>\n In a statement, the office said it\u2019s “carefully evaluating the court\u2019s ruling, along with the facts and circumstances of this case.” It said it remains committed to pursuing charges that meet legal standards while protecting public safety and seeking justice for victims.<\/p>\n They haven\u2019t said whether they\u2019ll retry Porter or drop the case.<\/p>\n Porter has said from the beginning that he didn\u2019t do it. In past prison interviews, he\u2019s said police stopped him while he was running an errand the day of his arrest. He never made it home.<\/p>\n His family and supporters say his case is part of a bigger pattern: coerced statements, the way Black suspects have been treated by Chicago police.\u00a0<\/p>\n Outside the court on Monday, supporters hugged in the hallway. Deputies moved through with carts of files. Someone left coffee cups on a bench near the doors.<\/p>\n Porter\u2019s attorney, Joshua Tepfer, said he doesn\u2019t think prosecutors can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt anymore. He said Porter\u2019s release gives him a chance to be with his family while the legal process plays out.<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n Porter is still charged with murder. But the conviction is gone. The case is back in pretrial proceedings, and prosecutors must decide whether to proceed with a new trial.<\/p>\n For now, Porter is out on electronic monitoring. Status dates are expected in the coming weeks. Both sides will figure out the next step in a case that\u2019s already taken more than two decades.<\/p>\n The Source:<\/b> The information in this article was reported by FOX Chicago’s Terrence Lee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Cook County<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO – Antonio Porter spent more than two decades in prison for a murder he\u2019s always said he…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":545722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5404,6082,5386,1818,50,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-545721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-cook-county","10":"tag-crime-publicsafety","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-illinois","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115964463267265957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}