A 53-year-old Chicago man who served about 32 years in prison on a murder and rape conviction before being cleared by DNA evidence in 2012 has been charged with murder in another case, Reuters reports.
Andre Davis allegedly told people attending a party at his nephew’s home on Chicago’s South Side in October that he was going to help his nephew “find a spot to dump” a body after a dice game went awry, according to Homicide Watch Chicago.
Chicago officials announced charges against Davis on Friday.
The killing occurred Oct. 7 after a fight between the nephew and 19-year-old Jamal Harmon outside the nephew’s home over money lost in a dice game, said Robert Mack, an assistant state’s attorney, according to Homicide Watch.
The nephew went inside the house, retrieved a handgun and shot Harmon, the prosecutor said, according to Homicide Watch. Davis and a witness allegedly put Harmon in the trunk of a Cadillac, the report says, adding that Davis told others he was going “to find a spot to dump Harmon” and drove off.
The teen’s body was discovered that day in an alley, with three gunshot wounds in the head and torso and multiple stab wounds, the report says.
Davis was convicted of murder in 1980 in the rape and killing that year of 3-year-old Brianna Stickle in downstate Rantoul, Homicide Watch writes. The conviction was overturned after new DNA evidence did not connect him to the crime, the report says. He had spent about 32 years in prison. Prosecutors declined to retry Davis, saying that bringing a 32-year-old case to trial would have been too hard, and he was released in July 2012, the report says.
Davis has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of felony kidnapping in the October killing, according to Homicide Watch.
Read more at Reuters and Homicide Watch.