Date: Sunday, March 22, 1992 Source: By Jorge Casuso, Chicago Tribune. 
Section: NEWS   Dateline: LOS ANGELES
 
Copyright Chicago Tribune

WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS SPARK RIGHTEOUS ACTS

    Clarence Chance has been unable to convince reporters that he is not
bitter.

    He and his friend, Benny Powell, have served 17 1/2 years of life
sentences for a crime they repeatedly say they didn`t commit. They were
framed, they insist. They didn`t kill the sheriff`s deputy in the gas station
men`s room that December night in 1973.

    Now it seems Chance is telling the truth.

    An exhaustive four-year investigation by a charitable sleuth has
persuaded the Los Angeles County district attorney`s office to join defense
lawyers in asking that Chance and Powell be freed.

    After a hearing Wednesday in Superior Court, the two are likely to be
released. Chance, 42, will walk out of Folsom Prison vindicated, half a life
older, a free man.
------------------------
       COPYRIGHT - CHICAGO TRIBUNE 
       This excerpt was obtained from the Chicago Tribune's 
       archives in the Newstand section of AMERICA ONLINE (aol.com).
       For more information about the Tribune's aol.com services,
       contact:   TribLetter@aol.com

       Additional information about Chicago Tribune electronic resources
       can be found on page 2 of the daily Tribune.