Judge Overturns Convictions For Man Who Served 27 Years In Prison For Murder, Attempted Rape

(CBS) -- A man who served more than 27 years behind bars for murder and attempted rape on Chicago's South Side had his case overturned on Monday.

Joshua Tepfer, an attorney for Exoneration Project Chicago, who represents Daniel Andersen, told WBBM that Monday's court ruling in Judge Alfredo Maldonado's courtroom was "a moment that wrongful conviction lawyers wait for."

Andersen was convicted in 1980 for the murder of 20-year-old Cathy Trunko on the 4900 block of South Paulina.

But Tepfer says DNA evidence has now cleared Andersen, "finding that prepondorence of the evidence that he would be unlikely to be convicted if re-tried based on the new DNA evidence. This is the most significant step in proving his innocence....this goes a long long way, today's order, in helping pick up the pieces of the lost three decades...35 years."

Andersen was let out of jail in 2007 but he and his lawyers have still been fighting to clear his name and Andersen has still been registered as a sex offender because he was also convicted of attempted rape in the Trunko case.

It is not clear if there will be a re-trial for the 54-year-old Andersen who now lives downstate.