Northwestern University has until January to respond to prosecutors' allegations journalism students paid two witnesses in an effort to prove an innocent man was wrongly convicted of murder.

A Cook County judge set a hearing for Jan. 11 in Anthony McKinney's case.

Journalism professor David Protess denies the allegations against his students. Those students say they've uncovered evidence McKinney had nothing to do with the 1978 murder of a security guard.

But prosecutors say students may have been motivated to find evidence of McKinney's innocence to get better grades and subpoenaed the students' grades.

Prosecutors claim the students paid $60 to a man who said he was present at the murder and McKinney was not. They also say students paid up to $100 to another possible suspect.