SYCAMORE — DeKalb County Judge William Brady granted a certificate of innocence to Jack McCullough, 77, on Wednesday based on the changes in the law and evidence that was previously unavailable.

In 2012, McCullough was charged in the 1957 murder of 7-year-old Maria Ridulph, of Sycamore. This past April, Brady vacated the 2012 verdict freeing McCullough from incarceration.

In October, McCullough filed for a petition of a certificate of innocence to clear his name.

Richard Schmack, former DeKalb County state’s attorney, supported McCullough’s petition; however, McCullough’s case was postponed after Rick Amato, DeKalb County state’s attorney who unseated Schmack in November, requested he be given more time to review the case.

Brady made his ruling based on Illinois State Compiled Statute 505 chapter 37, section 8c and evidence that was not previously permissible.

“The ultimate question that must be answered here is … is it more likely that the defendant will be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, or is it more likely that he would be found not guilty and not responsible for Maria Ridulph’s disappearance and murder?” Brady said.

Aisha Davis, defense attorney with the Chicago-based Exoneration Project, was in court for the ruling in place of Russell Ainsworth, McCullough’s attorney.

“We’re just very happy that we got the result that we did,” Davis said. “It’s very powerful that the court that initially convicted Mr. McCullough is the one that’s now saying that he’s innocent. So it’s just really exciting, and we’re all very glad that Mr. McCullough doesn’t have to worry about his conviction being over his head, and he can finally move on.”

McCullough was not present at the ruling. Davis said this was because of the difficulty of traveling at McCullough’s age from his home in Washington state. When she spoke to the press immediately following the ruling, she had not yet told him the verdict.

During the April 6 hearing, Amato, who had argued against the petition, only argued against the fifth section of the statute, which says that a request may be denied if the petitioner’s conduct did not voluntarily cause or “bring cause or bring about his or her conviction.”

“There’s a lot of speculation, but there are no answers, and there’s no justice,” Amato said. “Last Thursday might well have been our last chance for justice for Maria. I did my best to speak for her, to ask questions we all want to ask, to get the answers we all crave. I wanted to be sure Maria’s voice was heard.”

Because the petition was granted, McCullough will be eligible to receive up to $85,350 and cannot be tried again unless new evidence comes to light, according to Illinois State statutes.

Members of Ridulph’s family were present in the court at the time of the ruling.

“Do I feel that Jack McCullough killed my sister?” said Ridulph’s sister, Pat Quinn. “Yes, I do.”