[Ben] Baker's release was granted earlier Thursday during a two-minute hearing at which Cook County prosecutors moved to drop all charges against Baker.

[...]

Baker has served about 10 years of his 14-year prison sentence, said his lawyer, Joshua Tepfer of the Exoneration Project.

The decision comes less than a month after Tepfer sought a new trial. Those efforts were highlighted in a front-page story in the Tribune.

The court filing was based on dozens of pages of court and law enforcement records showing the Chicago police internal affairs division had been aware as far back as the late 1990s of corruption allegations involving Sgt. Ronald Watts and his team of tactical officers, yet did nothing about it.

Read more at The Chicago Tribune