Chicago authorities re-captured convicted murderer, Steven Robbins,who they say was mistakenly released from police custody. Robbins, 44, who was serving a 60 year murder sence had been on the run for three days because of a case of "clerical error." He was ultimately re-captured in a Kankakee, Illinois home, about 60 miles from Chicago on Friday night, according to CNN.
On Tuesday, Robbins was taken from an Indianapolis prison to Illinois for a court hearing on an unrelated weapons and drug charges, according to the Indiana Department of Correction. At the hearing the charges were dropped, Robbins was supposed to be returned back to the Indiana prison to where he is serving his 60-year sentence for a murder he was convicted of the May 2002 shooting death of a 21-year-old man. The victim had tried tried to stop a street fight between Robbins and his wife Nicole, according to court documents.
Associated Press reports that multiple law enforcement agencies sought him in Indiana and Illinois, and both states offered a reward for his capture. When police recaptured him in a northern Illinois home he was found watching TV. Robbins, dressed in blue jeans, and photographed by Cook County authorities after his arrest, he was put into a police car, offering no resistance, according to Cook County Sheriff's Office spokesman.i
Sheriff Thomas Dart pointed to the office's paper records system for this serious slip up; calling it a "clerical error," or outdated paper work.
"Because no paperwork had gone to the jail about him coming from Indiana, all the people in the records room saw was a guy whose court case was dismissed," Dart said. "And so he -- like another 200 people a day we release -- was released...out the front door of the jail. "It's all a paper system... And so when people start thinking it's maybe an inside job, the unfortunate reality is all these different detainees that we're dealing with every day -- and we move 1,500 a day -- the entire trail is a paper trail. "
Dart nonetheless acknowledged the egregious mistake, "We're not ducking the fact we dropped the ball. We made mistakes. The public deserves much more," he said Friday.
Robbins is back in jail serving his 60 year prison sentence for murder.
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