Tears streaming down his face, a man who wrongly spent nearly 25 years behind bars was granted a certificate of innocence Monday by a Cook County judge who called the ordeal an "injustice," according to his attorneys.

James Kluppelberg, 48, now has a clear record and access to about $200,000 in compensation from the state for his decades in prison after the ruling by Judge Michael McHale. Prosecutors dropped charges against Kluppelberg last year but had opposed the certificate, arguing there wasn't proof of actual innocence.

"It was like tons of weight being lifted off me," Kluppelberg said in a telephone interview after the judge's ruling. "My life was restored."

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