Cousins!

After spending the last 20 years of his life behind bars for a murder he continuously states he did not commit , Chicago resident Kevin Dugar has been officially released!

According to NBC news, Kevin was convicted of a deadly 2003 shooting of a gang rival. In 2005 he was sentenced to 54 years in jail for the murder of Antwan Carter and wounding Ronnie Bolden. Reports read that a gunman has opened fire on three people within a Chicago uptown neighborhood that resulted in Antwan’s death.

Despite continuously fighting to maintain his innocence by issuing an appeal, a major turn took place in Kevin’s case in 2013 when his twin brother Karl Smith confessed to carrying out the murder. He had admitted in a letter that he was responsible however in 2018 a judge ruled that the confession was not credible and declined a new trial.

It has been indicated that Kevin was already serving out a 99 year prison sentence for a home invasion incident that resulted in a child being shot in the head. Prosecutors argued that his confession came out after a court had already upheld his own conviction for attempted murder.

Sources confirm that a lawyer with the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions took Kevin’s case back to court, now, allowing him a second chance to prove his innocence. They are hopeful that after him being recently released he will not have to return for a trial.

“We are hopeful that the (Cook County) state’s attorney will drop the case against Kevin and then do what they will, but drop the case against Kevin because he’s innocent,” says Kevin’s Attorney. “It’s clear that he’s innocent, but if they persist we will go to trial and we will vindicate him at trial.”

Kevin’s Attorney Ronald Safer tells NBC that, “The judge granted his release pending trial on a signature bond and he walked out into the open air and breathed his first breaths as a free man in almost 20 years.”

”It was gratifying to watch his tears roll down his cheeks and their cheeks before (their tears) froze on their faces because it was about 7 below.”