Special prosecutor drops charges in 1991 Chicago murder

CHICAGO (AP) - A special Cook County prosecutor has thrown out charges against a man who spent two decades in prison for murder.

Anthony Jakes embraced his attorney Monday and walked out of a Chicago courtroom as spectators applauded. The Chicago Tribune reports Jakes was released from prison in 2013 after serving half of a 40-year term. Jakes alleged retired Chicago police Detective Michael Kill beat and coerced him in 1991 into confessing to a murder outside a South Side sandwich shop. Jakes was 15 at the time.

Court records show Kill has been accused of abusing suspects in more than a dozen investigations. The prosecutor's decision in Jakes' case came more than two years after Kill took the witness stand in Cook County court to defend his work that sent Jakes to prison.