Man freed from prison after 12 years when case is dismissed

CHICAGO (AP) — A man imprisoned 12 years for the murder of an off-duty Cook County Jail officer is free after a judge dismissed the case against him.

Bernard Mims was released Thursday from Pontiac Correctional Center.

A reason for the state’s attorney dropping the case against the 36-year-old Mims’ wasn’t given in court Thursday.

However, attorney Kathleen Zellner said her client was bedridden at the time of the October 2000 murder of 33-year-old Dwayne Baker after being shot himself about 10 days earlier. Baker was working as a private security guard at the time.

State’s attorney spokeswoman Sally Daly said in a statement Mims’ medical condition at the time of Baker’s death was a factor in throwing out the conviction.

Mims was arrested in 2004. A judge convicted him of first-degree murder and sentenced him to 90 years in prison.

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