On January 25, 2022, 44-year-old Kevin Dugar was released after nearly 20 years in prison for a fatal Chicago shooting. But when he tearfully reunited with his family, one person was missing: his twin brother, Karl Smith – who had confessed to being the one who actually committed the murder!
Dugar was convicted based on a rival gang member’s eyewitness testimony – someone who didn’t know the twins well enough to tell them apart. He even described how Dugar wore a braided beard at the time of the shooting. But that was Smith!
But in 2013, things started looking up.
That year, Dugar received a letter from Smith. The truth was finally out as Smith explained what actually went down. Despite this, the court continued to deny his release for years!
Despite everything, though, Dugar doesn’t blame his brother for what happened!
To him, the unjust criminal legal system, poverty, and culture surrounding their childhoods – full of drug deals, robberies, and violence – were at fault.
“I love my twin brother,” Dugar said. “It wasn’t my twin’s fault I was locked up.”
The criminal legal system encourages everything that isn't justice – revenge, brutality, disposability. But Dugar decided for himself to break the cycle of blaming individuals for the cruel world they grow up in. Real justice would be breaking the cycle of poverty, violence, and incarceration itself!