The identical twin brother of a man sentenced to jail for first-degree murder has now come forward and confessed to the crime.
In 2005, Kevin Dugar was found guilty of first-degree murder.
But the sentence was quashed late last week, when the brothers saw each other for the first time in years while their mother wept.
"I'm here to confess to a crime I committed that he was wrongly accused of," Karl Smith, 38, testified, the Chicago Tribune says.
The murder, back in 2003, had been pinned on Dugar after a man dressed in black shot at three people.
He was identified by a survivor of the shooting, in a line-up which did not include Smith.
Smith says the brothers acted "as one".
"Where I was, he was, acting like each other. He pretended to be me, and I pretended to be him."
According to the Chicago Tribune, Smith had first confessed to the shooting in a letter to Dugar, in 2013, writing: "The reason I didn't say (expletive) at the time was because I didn't and couldn't find the strength to do so at the time."
The prosecution is doubting the validity of the confession; while Dugar was sentenced to 54 years' jail for the crime, Smith was sentenced to a 99-year prison sentence for a crime eight years ago.
"He's got nothing to lose," says Carol Rogala, Assistant State's Attorney.
It's not yet known whether Dugar will face a retrial.
Newshub.
