Nine months after an Illinois appeals court called the circumstances surrounding the murder case against a Chicago man “extraordinary” and reversed his convictions, his quest for an on-paper exoneration in the form of a certificate of innocence has been delayed after the Cook County state’s attorney’s office reassigned the case to outside prosecutors.

Kevin Jackson, whose journey for release from prison in a 2001 murder case took many twists and turns , was in court Wednesday as Cook County Judge Erica Reddick granted a request by special prosecutor Fabio Valentini to give the state nearly two more months to respond to Jackson’s petition for a certificate of innocence.

Jackson’s defense attorneys told the Tribune they opposed the delay and questioned the need for spending resources on

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