It has been 30 years since; Robert Johnson was convicted for the murder of Eddie Binion, “Johnson was a teen when he was arrested in connection with the 1996 killing of Eddie Binion and later convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and home invasion” (Yahoo!).

There was said to be no concrete evidence at the time placing Johnson, at the scene of the crime. Johnson was arrested “police took him from his grandmother’s house and arrested him in connection with the April 14, 1996, murder of a man who was shot and killed in a robbery in his apartment on the South Side” (CBS).

Johnson was arrested by Detective James O’Brien who at the time was a training officer of Jon Burge, a former police commander who was accused of “leading a group of officers that tortured and physically abused more than 100 individuals in an effort to elicit false confessions and testimony” (NBC Chicago)

Evelyn Binion, the sister of Eddie Binion, accused a man named Tramaine Taylor, who reportedly died in 2018, as the killer of her brother, after Taylor was said to be bragging about the killing of Binion but, “police had told her that she was wrong when she identified Taylor, not Johnson, as the killer” (NBC Chicago).

Defense attorneys argued that the lack of evidence and eyewitnesses, could not implicate Johnson in the crime. As part of the Exoneration project, a free legal service, meant to help the wrongfully convicted get exonerated, Johnson’s case was based on, “the incentivized testimony of a young juvenile defendant, and that’s frankly it” (CBS).

A judge vacated Johnson’s conviction last week Thursday, and Johnson was released the same night, being reunited with his 92-year-old Grandmother after three decades. “I didn’t think this day was going to happen…I screamed, but nobody listened to me” (CBS).

As of right now, the state is working on whether or not Johnson’s case will be retried or dismissed.