Cook County prosecutors on Wednesday vacated the conviction of the alleged gunman in the 2011 murder of Chicago Police Officer Clifton Lewis, a year after charges were dropped against the other defendants.It marks the latest fallout in a case tainted by accusations of misconduct by police and prosecutors and paves the way for Alexander Villa to leave prison just over a year after he was handed a life sentence in the fatal shooting of Lewis.Villa had been jailed since his arrest in 2014 and was awaiting sentencing last year when the Cook County state’s attorney’s office dropped charges against his two co-defendants after a flurry of motions alleging wrongdoing by prosecutors.Judge Carol Howard’s courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse was packed Wednesday, with Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara and more than a dozen police union members seated on one side of the gallery.Villa’s supporters, some wearing T-shirts with his prison mugshot under the words “wrongfully convicted,” sat on the other side. Villa watched the hearing online from Lawrence Correctional Center in downstate Sumner. Related Man gets life sentence in 2011 killing of off-duty Chicago cop; vows to appeal, says he was framed Lawsuits accuse Chicago police, prosecutors and a judge of framing two men for the murder of an off-duty officer Slain Chicago cop’s family hires lawyers to ‘ensure justice is served’ as last defendant moves for dismissal Lawyers for Lewis’ mother and sister managed to delay, if only for a few hours, the move to undo the case against Villa with a request to “be heard.” Family members had been contacted by the prosecutor's office several days ago, but lawyer James McKay on Wednesday said they were entitled to “a meaningful conversation” with State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.Howard noted that state law doesn't allow victims or their families to intervene in criminal cases, but paused the proceedings for three hours to allow the family to contact Foxx's office.When they returned, prosecutors announced the charges were dropped. McKay reported the family had talked with Foxx and objected the move.Villa had been found guilty in 2019, but the lawyers he hired ahead of his sentencing uncovered a trove of evidence that they claim was improperly held back from files turned over to Villa’s trial team. The lawyers pointed to cellphone maps that showed he wasn't at the crime scene, information about alternative suspects and reports on a massive, monthslong dragnet carried out by police intended almost entirely to get evidence to implicate Villa.