Illinois Man Imprisoned For 20 Years Is Set Free After Identical Twin's Confession

A man from Illinois who was convicted for murder 20 years ago was finally freed after his identical twin brother confessed to committing the crime.

Kevin Dugar, convicted in the shooting of a rival gang member in 2003, was released from the Cook County Jail in Chicago around 10 p.m. Tuesday after a judge granted his latest motion for bond, WLS-TV reported.

"He is overjoyed to be free but is also adjusting to a world that is quite different from the world he left 20 years ago when he was arrested for this crime he did not commit," attorney Ronald Safer told the New York Post on Thursday.

Dugar was found guilty of fatally shooting a gang rival, Antwan Taylor, and wounding a second person, identified as Ronnie Bolden. He was sentenced to 54 years in prison and convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery.

But, in 2016, Dugar’s identical twin, Karl Smith confessed that he was responsible for the 2003 shooting. At the time, Smith was serving a 99-year sentence for a 2008 home invasion and armed robbery, during which a child was shot in the head.

Initially, Bolden had identified the shooter as "Twin," a street name that Smith and Dugar used. The eyewitness in Dugar’s conviction also recanted her story and testified that Bolden asked her to identify Dugar as the gunman, the Chicago-Tribune reported in 2018.

However, the twist in the story did not help Dugar. The prosecutors were skeptical of the admission and stated that Smith, who was already in the prison had "nothing to lose." In 2018, a judge sided with the prosecutors and ruled that the on-the-record confession was not credible. He refused Dugar a retrial. The judge cited that the identical twins often pretended to be each other to misdirect and deceit people.

After a recent appeal by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, another judge reviewed the case.

"The Court of Appeals found that there is a strong probability that a jury hearing all of the evidence would likely find Kevin not guilty," Safer said, the Post reported.

Dugar will live in a residential transitional facility for three months as prosecutors decide whether to go forward with a retrial or drop the charges.

Dugar’s attorneys are hoping the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office will review the evidence and dismiss the entire case.