GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - Convicted Murderer Is Back in Custody

CHICAGO (AP) ? A convicted murderer from Indiana who was mistakenly released after a court appearance in Chicago was back in custody on Saturday after law enforcement authorities found him about 60 miles away.

The convict, Steven L. Robbins, 44, was arrested late Friday without incident in Kankakee, the Cook County Sheriff?s Department said in a news release.

Although the details of Mr. Robbins?s capture were not immediately released, officials said they used various leads and interviews with friends and family members to locate him.

Mr. Robbins was able to leave custody, Illinois officials said, because they lost paperwork directing them to return him to Indiana.

Mr. Robbins was serving a 60-year sentence for murder in Indiana. He was brought to Chicago last week by Cook County sheriff?s deputies for a court appearance in a separate case involving drug and armed violence charges ? a case that had actually been dismissed in 2007.

After appearing before two Cook County Circuit Court judges, Mr. Robbins was taken to a jail on the South Side of Chicago. He was released hours later, instead of being sent back to Indiana to continue serving his murder sentence. The public was not alerted that he had been freed for about 24 hours.

The Cook County sheriff, Thomas J. Dart, took responsibility on Friday for Mr. Robbins?s release, saying that a document showing he should be returned to Indiana disappeared while his deputies were transporting him, sometime between a court appearance on Tuesday and his return to jail after a second court appearance on Wednesday. Mr. Robbins was released Wednesday evening.

?We?re not ducking the fact we dropped the ball ? we made mistakes,? Sheriff Dart said. ?The public deserves much more. We?re going to find out what went wrong here.?

Before Mr. Robbins was captured, federal and local law enforcement officers knocked on doors in Illinois and Indiana, including those of his friends and relatives, the sheriff?s office said. The F.B.I. and the United States Marshals Service offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his apprehension.

Mr. Robbins, a native of Gary, was serving a sentence for murder and weapons convictions.

Witnesses to the murder, which occurred in 2002, told the police that Mr. Robbins was arguing with his wife outside a party in Indianapolis when a man named Rutland Melton intervened. Mr. Melton told Mr. Robbins that he should not hit a woman, according to court documents. The witnesses said Mr. Robbins then retrieved a gun from a car and shot Mr. Melton in the chest before fleeing.

Mr. Robbins started serving his sentence in October 2004. His earliest projected release date was June 29, 2029.

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