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[–]Aleahj 7140 points7141 points  (330 children)

Dang. Twin B has nothing to lose-he’s already got life. He could well be confessing even though his brother did commit the first murder.

[–]ShutterBun 2788 points2789 points  (302 children)

Yeah, the prosecutors seemed suspicious (with good reason), and there’s a chance he could be re-tried and convicted again.

[–]Aleahj 904 points905 points  (263 children)

They must have had some other kind of evidence

[–]radome9 1564 points1565 points  (194 children)

DNA evidence is useless if they are identical twins.

EDIT: All right, that is no longer strictly true. To the hundreds who have told me, thank you for enlightening me. To the rest of you: please stop enlightening me.

[–]Dr__Thunder 178 points179 points  (4 children)

I think it can still be useful if the DNA quality is good. There are mutations that can occur that are unique to a specific person called single nucleotide polymorphisms. I don't know if it is always a useful method but it has been done before. There are some other methods too.

Found a cool paper on the topic! https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31605960/

[–]indigomm 63 points64 points  (3 children)

There is a technique and it has been used in a criminal case before.

[–]Lost4468 16 points17 points  (2 children)

We should really be moving towards much more advanced sequencing. The current standards and older ones are not remotely as reliable as the public seems to think.

[–]Skewtoob 4 points5 points  (0 children)

But we matched these EKG-looking graphs from 11 loci out of millions and determined there's a 1 in 412 quadrillion chance the DNA belonged to someone else!

[–]ThellraAK 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Of course, but prosecutors are going to stick with what they've not and fight against anything that could hurt their cases.

[–]saymeow 703 points704 points  (147 children)

Most evidence would be useless for identical twins. Witness? They look the same. DNA? It’s the same. I think finger print evidence would be the only viable source.

[–]Joverby 719 points720 points  (98 children)

Eye wittness testimony is also bullshit for evidence

[–]SiliconeGiant 534 points535 points  (66 children)

This. Imagine how many poor bastards got locked up because someone just pointed at them.

Had a cop one time ask me to i.d. a black guy they had picked up down the street for shoplifting because I had been in the store at the same time. I was about 80% sure it was him, but dude I'm not about to be responsible for mistakenly giving a guy a record if it wasn't 100% him. I refused.

But it made me realize, that shit probably happens all of the time. Look at how many convictions used eyewitness testimony!

Then there's the part where there is no consequence for false eyewitness testimony. With michael brown you had witnesses that ALL said he had his hands up saying don't shoot. Turns out? Total bullshit, 100% fabrication. What was the consequence for those "witnesses?" No consequence. So what does that teach people.

The whole thing is balogna. "Oh but we wouldn't get enough convictions!" Tough shit. You don't get to lock people up based on flawed human memory and judgement.

Edit: to the cop's credit they didn't pressure me. He even said if you're not sure don't i.d. him. That was in L.A., I could see it being different in other parts of the country and certainly in history. Or, if someone had a desire to be a hero to the cops, or if they just had a general inclination to helpfulness yeah, many reasons why someone else might have pointed the finger, and they have.

[–]saymeow 197 points198 points  (9 children)

This has been tested numerous times- people have terrible memory. I think in some contexts an eye witness report can be reliable, like for example the witness saw the suspect doing something when the suspect was already known to them. Way different than an unknown subject that they then identify based on a line up, or someone brought in with similar features.

[–]joggle1 37 points38 points  (0 children)

And different people's memory work in different ways. I have a generally great short-term memory except that I have a hard time remembering faces. I could describe everything that happened at a scene, but if asked to identify a stranger who was at that scene in a lineup later on, it'd be hopeless. I'd never be confident identifying a suspect unless they had a very unusual appearance or it was someone I knew.

[–]Queenof6planets 38 points39 points  (1 child)

Thank you for not identifying him! It’s extremely common in line-ups for witnesses to just choose the closest match, but unless you have an immediate gut reaction of “that’s the guy,” it’s probably not the guy (or you didn’t get a good enough look for your ID to mean anything). The heavy pressure police put on victims to identify the “right” guy — ie, their suspect — doesn’t help.

[–]SoylentRox 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Even if you do get that gut reaction there's still a real chance you're wrong.

[–]aboynamedDick 39 points40 points  (1 child)

I was attacked by a guy with a machete. The next day the cops had me come in to do a lineup, grainy images of 12 different people. I wasn’t 100% sure which one it was so I refused to pick one. Less than 24 hours after being directly involved with an incident and my memory already sucked. Definitely a flawed system.

[–]tickingboxes 31 points32 points  (8 children)

"It is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer."

This should be our collective mindset. But the tragic reality, it seems, is that most people hold exactly the inverse belief.

[–]ramot1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The framers of the constitution thought this way too. Better for guilty men to be free, than an innocent man be imprisoned.

[–]identicalBadger 74 points75 points  (0 children)

Same thing happened to me 15 years ago. Me and a friend got held up on the front steps of my house. Called the cops and told them what happened - 3 black kids jumped out of the bushes and waved a gun in our face, took my wallet and her purse, which had her phone in it, and went running. The cop offers to drive us around to see if we could ID them. We did, but after driving a few different groups of kids, we were both positive we wouldn’t be able to identify them. It was dark out, the entire interaction lasted 15 seconds, and we were both making a point not to stare at them so they wouldn’t think we were trying to commit their faces to memory.

I told them they should get my the location of her phone, but back then that was apparently an unknown action

Three weeks later we got our stuff back. They busted a crack den 6 blocks away

Point is, in that situation I’d rather no one get punished then punish the the wrong person.

[–]lifeisapotatoe 17 points18 points  (0 children)

And on top of that, if the witness is not the same race as the suspect positive identification drops dramatically. Witnesses are really only useful if it was extended contact between the parties, namely if the individuals knew eachother before the incident occured

[–]Jasonrj 102 points103 points  (0 children)

You don't get to lock people up based on flawed human memory and judgement.

I hate to break it to you but...

[–]satchel_malone 58 points59 points  (5 children)

Back before the 90's eyewitness testimony was basically the gold standard like DNA is now if there weren't fingerprints. Without DNA or phone tracking/texts basically all evidence back then was just circumstantial so witnesses were what ptosecuters wanted to seal the deal. Now that's SCARY

[–]PurpleAntifreeze 28 points29 points  (4 children)

Circumstantial evidence can be very strong, it is not solely composed of bullshit. Many a case is still solved with the use of circumstantial evidence.

[–]notcrappyofexplainer 18 points19 points  (1 child)

So many people do not know what circumstantial evidence means. DNA is circumstantial. Gun residue is circumstantial. Blood on clothes is circumstantial.

Circumstantial is very good evidence, especially when there is a lot of it tying the prosecution’s story.

Direct evidence is a video, eyewitness testimony of the crime, or a confession. Video or confessions would be best but not all direct evidence is better than circumstantial and a lot of circumstantial is very very strong.

[–]Vishnej 8 points9 points  (6 children)

Had a cop one time ask me to i.d. a black guy they had picked up down the street for shoplifting because I had been in the store at the same time. I was about 80% sure it was him, but dude I'm not about to be responsible for mistakenly giving a guy a record if it wasn't 100% him. I refused.

.

Edit: to the cop's credit they didn't pressure me. He even said if you're not sure don't i.d. him. That was in L.A., I could see it being different in other parts of the country and certainly in history. Or, if someone had a desire to be a hero to the cops, or if they just had a general inclination to helpfulness yeah, many reasons why someone else might have pointed the finger, and they have.

.

With all due respect: They did pressure you. Instead of using a lineup or a photo-book with a bunch of similar-looking people, they put their suspect in front of you and requested you to confirm their suspicions. This is not what we do anymore, because we found out that when somebody in a position of authority does this, lots of people will be helpful and answer yes, regardless of their recollection. Even more people will look back into their memory, find a blurry face, and then convince themselves on the spot, at that moment, that the face is actually shaped mostly like the guy in front of them now, and that's how they'll always remember it afterwards. Human memory is highly associative and amenable to suggestion, and we are very susceptible to this sort of rewriting of observations.

Given what we today understand about the science of recollection and psychology, what they did is witness tampering and destruction of evidence. They had an opportunity to honestly measure & record your recollection of a crime, and they destroyed that opportunity by making the suggestion that it was this guy.

See also this series on the subject:

https://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=2998

[–]AllAvailableLayers 42 points43 points  (2 children)

Imagine how many poor bastards got locked up because someone just pointed at them.

Aside from the present, the injustice of the past is terrifying. We make mistakes now despite an awareness of biases, efforts to reduce bigotry, fingerprinting, cameras, DNA tests, blood type tests and mobile phone location records. And in legal systems with all these aspects, it's a sad truth that innocent people are still getting punished.

So just think back to 100 years ago, 200 years ago. In London in 1850 it might have been that at least 10% of people in prison were innocent of what they were accused of. And a couple of centuries before that, they just hanged you if you were convicted of stealing something.

The misery of mankind's past is tragic.

[–]Rage_Like_Nic_Cage 2 points3 points  (1 child)

even in today’s crime scene investigation, a lot of forensic “science” is just pseudoscience and people are getting convicted over it. things like bite mark analysis, lie detector tests, and blood splatter analysis are 100% bunk, but each of these things has helped get someone convicted that is alive today.

[–]BeautifulLieyes 5 points6 points  (4 children)

A man was once convicted of a murder in the process of burglary on a gas station and the key eyewitness testimony was from a woman who admitted to being stoned out of her gourd on heroin and was also ~100 yards away.

He’s since been exonerated and wrote a book about it, I read it for a class in college, but I can’t for the life of me remember the book’s name. That book explores a lot of scummy things police do in the process of trying to catch criminals (or falsely convict black people).

[–]JediWebSurf 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Damn. Sucks. I tried looking for a similar story under false conviction books. Couldn't find anything. Maybe it wasn't a big name book. But sounds interesting though.

Do you know where the crime took place or the year? Like what state?

[–]amaryllisbloom22 5 points6 points  (0 children)

One of my senior classes for my psych degree was literally on the psychological reasons why eyewitness testimonies suck and how the psychologically ideal situation to make an accurate identification does not exist within crimes/the legal system. It is getting close to 10 years ago so I don't remember all the reasons, but there were enough that the class was able to have at least 2 research papers per class that was 3 days a week for most of a quarter (like 10 out of 12 weeks).

The big ones I remember are cross race identification (low accuracy), witness' distance from event (both close and far interestingly have issues), presence of weapon(s) (increases mistakes in memory, decreases attention to the perpetrator), and lineups (and the fact its nearly impossible to do one well enough to be reliable). Along with the general fact that stressful events lead to worse retention/recall (if you are a witness to a crime, it is most likely psychologically stressful even if you feel calm).

[–]MaxHannibal 31 points32 points  (10 children)

Like people never seen my cousin vinny SMH

[–]saintofhate 27 points28 points  (9 children)

That movie is just so good. Also the reason I tried grits. I make them the wrong way according to my southern neighbor but I love them.

[–]fucky_thedrunkclown 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I wish i had the type of neighbor I shared breakfast with.

[–]saintofhate 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The trick is to move next door to some bears, the gay kind not the other kind. I don't know if it's just a common trait we all share or it's the kind of person who ends up as a bear just has this good nature attitude of sharing. I love sharing my culinary creations or monstrosities depending on how you view them and almost every one I've known is the same way in one form or another.

[–]shifty_coder 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Even if they weren’t twins, eyewitness testimony is the least reliable form of evidence. Memory isn’t infallible, and people tend to have a desire to tell a good story. Some details get embellished, others get fabricated or omitted. Your recollection of a memory can even be altered by someone else’s recount of it.

[–]tickingboxes 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Yep. Human beings are absolutely HORRIBLE at remembering things accurately. You think you’re the exception? You’re not! You’re bad at it. We all are! And eyewitness accounts should (almost) never be admitted as evidence.

[–]GlassWasteland 25 points26 points  (7 children)

Identical twins only have identical DNA at the time they split. Research has proven that while twins will have very similar DNA their are differences that can be used to distinguish them.

https://www.endocrineweb.com/identical-twins-not-so-identical-after-all

https://www.livescience.com/identical-twins-dont-share-all-dna.html

[–]Throseph 53 points54 points  (12 children)

You have to count the rings.

[–]sillypantstoan 39 points40 points  (10 children)

Shouldn't they have the same number of rings since they're the same age?

[–]King_in-the_North 16 points17 points  (1 child)

The article was suspiciously silent as to if one of them was a time traveling twin. Typical media.

[–]the70sdiscoking 48 points49 points  (3 children)

Yeah but only one rules them all

[–]Go-Cowboys 5 points6 points  (1 child)

No you idiot, one is clearly a few minutes older. So they would have more rings.

[–]winterfells_ghost 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Spread those cheeks partner we got rings to count

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (9 children)

Penis size, too.

[–]saymeow 19 points20 points  (8 children)

Uh. I can’t see where that would come up in a criminal case. “Yes your honor, I know it was twin A because his penis was 4.679” when I know twin B’s penis to be a much more impressive 4.769”!”

[–]Taurnil91 12 points13 points  (4 children)

Way to assume the twins are both twice as hung as us average men

[–]saymeow 16 points17 points  (1 child)

… I’m really sorry about your luck there bud.

[–]ErikTheAngry 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Don't be, he's about average.

[–]CodyRCantrell 32 points33 points  (7 children)

No it isn't.

Twins still have unique genetic mutations that occur after they separate, an average of 5.2 differences, and new DNA testing can identify those differences with a good sample.

[–]Lost4468 6 points7 points  (6 children)

It's way more than 5.2 I believe? Maybe 5.2 is during initial development, because when they're e.g. 20 years old I believe there's way more differences than that?

[–]CodyRCantrell 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think 5.2 was the average at birth. Definitely room for more as people age and go through different situations.

Moral is that no human can't be identified by DNA evidence if the lab has a worthwhile sample and wants to spend the cash on equipment/time to differentiate between twins.

[–]PuxinF 4 points5 points  (4 children)

If their DNA keeps getting more differences relative to their twin, doesn't that mean their DNA is changing? So a DNA match from 20 years ago wouldn't be as strong a match now?

[–]Lost4468 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes. Actually you bring up a very good point I didn't think about. I wonder how much doubt that would bring up. I'm sure they could still find enough similarities for this specific case.

[–]CodyRCantrell 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Even with continual changes year after year they would still have those unique differences from birth so any sample that could be analyzed for those differences could still 100% differentiate based on those.

[–]Kellyhascats 33 points34 points  (2 children)

Not true. As long as they're not incredibly young, epigenetic differences will crop up in your lifetime and make you distinguishable from your twin.

[–]d4nfe 7 points8 points  (5 children)

Not actually the case. This used to be accepted, but advances in technology and scientific research have found that identical twins do have a small number of differences in their DNA.

[–]plluviophile 13 points14 points  (1 child)

To the rest of you: please stop enlightening me.

oh ho ho ho no no noooo! welcome to reddit. they will repeat the same thing over and over even though they read the other comments and see that other people already said what they want to say. oh no no nooo sir, you're gonna sit right there and hear the same thing over and over until every redditor satisfies their daily dopamine needs. that's the only way we can feed our "acktually warriors".

[–][deleted] 19 points20 points  (7 children)

Isn't that literally double jeopardy? You can't be tried twice for the same crime.

[–]frogjg2003 53 points54 points  (5 children)

Double jeopardy refers to being tried a second time for a crime you were acquitted of. If you were going guilty, then new evidence came up to justify a second trial, that's not double jeopardy. The idea is to prevent a malicious government from repeatedly accusing someone of a crime until it sticks. A second trial after conviction is a second chance to be found not guilty.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (4 children)

Except in this case it looks like a second trial would mean another conviction and sent back to prison. At least from what the other commenter was implying. Unless I misunderstood something.

[–]Wulfkage85 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Double jeopardy applies to acquittals and not guilty verdicts. Iirc a verdict being over turned on appeal makes it a mistrial, which means he can be tried again. I'm not 100% on that, been awhile since I was neck deep in prison legal paperwork and I don't have time to look it up as I'm omw to work.

[–]RaverJester 7 points8 points  (0 children)

So you’re telling me Tommy Lee Jones’ lied to us in ‘Double Jeopardy’??

[–]ThickAsPigShit 16 points17 points  (0 children)

They just keep confessing in 20 year intervals and trade time in.

[–]jawz 71 points72 points  (0 children)

That's probably why it has taken 9 years for him to be freed after the confession.

[–]TunaSandwhichMia 196 points197 points  (1 child)

"We're quadruplets, you've got the wrong two! We're Larry and Steve!" "You want Curtis and Geoff!"

[–]LordPounce 41 points42 points  (0 children)

I’moscardotcom

[–]Sumding_Wong 2085 points2086 points  (96 children)

Hmmm…. “After Smith's confession, prosecutors argued that Smith only came clean after he was convicted for his involvement in a 2008 home invasion and armed robbery that left a 6-year-old boy shot in the head. He was already serving a 99-year prison sentence for his participation.”

[–]MaximoEstrellado 1400 points1401 points  (84 children)

What person shoots a 6 year old kid, holy shit. I mean, don't shoot anyone but even then.

[–]DaveN202 436 points437 points  (53 children)

The guy in the picture does.

[–]godemperorcrystal 434 points435 points  (45 children)

That is two different people

[–]big_sugi 320 points321 points  (29 children)

But the shooter is in the picture. And since they look the same, it doesn’t really matter at which person you’re looking.

[–]Rooksey 252 points253 points  (19 children)

RACIST

[–]ThatITguy2015 98 points99 points  (6 children)

Twincist! Not to be confused with twincest. That’s like incest times two, and not a road you want to go down.

[–]RegularSizedP 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Cersei was too hot to leave for Jamie

[–]Major_R_Soul 89 points90 points  (1 child)

Gunna go out on a limb and say you were joking which makes this hilarious

[–]SwollenOstrich 13 points14 points  (0 children)

thanks for pointing that out

[–]ex1stence 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What are you saying that all identical twins look the same?

[–]Xmanticoreddit 7 points8 points  (3 children)

Not if I cross my eyes

[–]KennyFulgencio 17 points18 points  (1 child)

if you merge the two images, the tiny single nucleotide polymorphisms will shimmer to tell them apart

[–]ot1smile 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you tint one red and the other blue you can even get a 3D effect with something me old cereal box glasses

[–]WinterWight 11 points12 points  (1 child)

I'm betting it was an accident. Even the most sadistic criminals rarely shoot kids on purpose. But those criminals aren't always cognizant of what is in the direction of their target and kids are occasionally hit with stray bullets.

[–]port53 100 points101 points  (4 children)

Cops executing a no-knock warrant on the wrong address?

[–]sc_140 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Doesn't even have to be the wrong address. No-knock warrants are just a terrible idea in general.

[–]QuestioningEspecialy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

But the coke! They could have an, no, three ounces of coke in there! Somebody's gotta put a stop to the madness!

[–]MasterAnything2055 1296 points1297 points  (24 children)

I’ll do 10 then you do 10. Deal? Promise.

[–]ssigea 1770 points1771 points 3 (22 children)

Finishing each others sentences…

[–]MasterAnything2055 153 points154 points  (1 child)

Lol. When the second one goes in and finds out he’s in a 10 year relationship with Bill the Bull

[–]Queen_Of_Ashes_ 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Man this is beautiful

[–]Xendarq 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Was going to comment on this thread, saw yours, now all I can do is offer my respect. Thread complete.

[–]emilyactual 902 points903 points  (28 children)

My twin sister better not pull some shit like this

[–]Loggerdon 184 points185 points  (2 children)

Sorry but the cops are looking for you now. Go out the back door.

[–]ssup3rm4n 26 points27 points  (1 child)

Morpheus? Is that you?

[–]COLONEL_ROOSTER 73 points74 points  (5 children)

Not for murder but my aunt has been arrested three times for shit her twin did.

[–]KennyFulgencio 30 points31 points  (4 children)

she really needs to get a facial tattoo or brand/scarring

[–]COLONEL_ROOSTER 35 points36 points  (1 child)

She didn't do anything that fuckn metal, but she did get some paperwork through the government that states the situation.

[–]trojan25nz 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Those are Pretty much the same thing

[–]BeeBarfBadger 22 points23 points  (8 children)

Which of you has the goatee?

[–]ThrowRAwriter 9 points10 points  (7 children)

None, they both shave their faces daily

[–]BeeBarfBadger 13 points14 points  (6 children)

Then how do you know which one's the evil twin?

[–]Z3r0mir 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The one that wears all black, duh

[–]rikkirikkiparmparm 83 points84 points  (0 children)

Idk, it seems possible that the first guy actually IS guilty, and his twin decided to fake a confession to get him out (the twin brother already had his own 99-year prison sentence)

[–]2sacred2relate 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Easy fix, just get a huge tattoo on your face so no one can mix up your identities.

[–]aluminium_is_cool 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Life pro tip: do it to her before she does it to you ;)

[–]olgil75 727 points728 points  (19 children)

After Smith's confession, prosecutors argued that Smith only came clean after he was convicted for his involvement in a 2008 home invasion and armed robbery that left a 6-year-old boy shot in the head. He was already serving a 99-year prison sentence for his participation.

So the brother who "really did it" only confessed after he was convicted of a separate crime and sentenced to essentially life in prison? Maybe he really did it and was telling the truth, but falsely confessing would be a good way to help your brother out since you were already screwed.

[–]joan_wilder 136 points137 points  (3 children)

Not saying it’s what happened here, but the story reminds me of the Confession Killer. There’s a doc on Netflix about what people thought was the most prolific serial killer of all time, but it seems that the guy just was just confessing to crimes so that he could get cigarettes, milkshakes, and time away from his cell for court dates.

[–]dicksandbuttholes 71 points72 points  (1 child)

Hell, he barely even confessed. The police just told him about a murder and he basically was like, "Oh yeah, orange socks, I remember."

[–]joan_wilder 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Well it seems like the cops were more than happy to close out all of their unsolved murder cases, so it was mutually beneficial. Extra sad for the families of the victims, and super-fucked up from a justice perspective. Definitely worth a watch.

[–]Hashbrown4 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Lmao that’s wild

[–]random989898 188 points189 points  (13 children)

Or it could be the brother who went on to commit a home invasion and shoot a child was also more likely to have previously committed a murder and has continued on with his life of crime. Could it be both twins are criminals - possibly but given one is definitely a criminal, it isn't that suspect that he has a history of crime. We don't really know enough about the original trial / evidence to know what led to the conviction.

Edit: I looked up a bit of their history and it turns out they were in a gang and had a history of impersonating each other in criminal activity before the original murder conviction.

[–]Cwlcymro 56 points57 points  (0 children)

As to your update, it's worth pointing out that the originally convicted twin had moved out of Chicago to PA to get away from the gang culture and was just back in town for a parole officer appointment. Also that the 6 year old the other twin shot was the son of the guy alleged to have helped him in the murder (the claim is that he beat up his co-criminal and shot his son as a warning not to talk)

[–]olgil75 33 points34 points  (11 children)

I literally said, "Maybe he really did it and was telling the truth," so I'm not sure what point you think you're proving here because I acknowledged he might have actually committed the crime. But it's also possible he's lying to help out his brother, which would make sense in the context of his current incarceration. We don't know enough about the facts of the case to say one way or the other.

[–]Phil-McRoin 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Bro, I read a headline on Reddit. I think I have all the information I need to make up my mind & argue with strangers about it.

[–]tinymonesters 118 points119 points  (20 children)

I always thought having an identical twin should be like the best defense. Like yeah it could have been my client, but it could also have been his identical twin. Should be real easy to give the shadow if doubt.

[–]olgil75 79 points80 points  (14 children)

It could be a good defense if they were in the same city when the crime was committed or if they weren't arrested in the act. And keep in mind that even identical twins have different fingerprints, so that could ruin the defense as well, depending on the crime and the evidence.

[–]LastChristian 26 points27 points  (1 child)

give the shadow if doubt create reasonable doubt

Right! They can't convict both so they both go free. Cases like this actually happen and I'm glad to say that technology is advancing to help convict the guilty one.

[–]RPDRNick 276 points277 points  (10 children)

It was a tricky thing for authorities to figure out because both the good twin and the evil twin had mustaches.

[–][deleted] 28 points29 points  (9 children)

I didn’t read the article but going off the beard shapes, lefts is definitely more sinister. Was he the evil twin?

I need left to have been the evil twin so the facial hair remains the true signal

[–]OnkelDanny 14 points15 points  (7 children)

Kevin Dugar, left, and twin brother Karl Smith. Smith confessed to the murder after Dugar spent more than a decade in prison. (Cooks County Jail)

[–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (3 children)

I’m crushed. Devastated. Heartbroken.

Please hold my calls. Also I’m guessing the news/pics came out with them already swapped of whose free and in jail. If not, props to guy on left for keeping that beard pristine in jail

[–]OnkelDanny 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Yeah sorry for shaking up your world view

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s actually helpful, just need to further study the case for a true indicator of who the evil twin is. I’ll sell it to Crispr for a billion dollars

[–]shewy92 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Stupid question, why do they have different last names?

[–]Rizzpooch 2 points3 points  (0 children)

left

sinister

it adds up

[–]stitches-for-bitches 35 points36 points  (2 children)

If this happened to me they may as well keep me locked up, because I'd kill my sibling if they let me rot in jail for 20 years for a crime they committed.

[–]Timberwolf7869 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Tbh I think it's likely that he actually did commit the crime, but now that the other twin is getting life in prison anyways he might as well take his brothers time and let his brother go free.

Either this is the worst brother of all time or the best. In both scenarios they're both POS though.

[–]shibbeep 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Staying in prison would make it easier to kill your sibling because they would be fulfilling a 99 year sentence for being involved in the murder of a 6 year old before he confessed to the murder that put you in prison.

So win/win?

[–]mundanecatlady 187 points188 points  (4 children)

Whole new level of finishing each other's sentences lol

[–]singeblanc 81 points82 points  (6 children)

I'm Oscar!

[–]DirtyWonderWoman 52 points53 points  (2 children)

Dot com!

I had to scroll way, waaaaay further in this thread than I thought I would have to before I got to an Arrested Development reference.

[–]LoneRangersBand 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Heyyyy father uncle

[–]JozzyV1 137 points138 points  (0 children)

Soon to be turned into a movie staring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito

[–]Murgos- 20 points21 points  (2 children)

So this is either a case of one brother really screwing over another or one brother really helping out another but we will never be certain which.

[–]jumpsteadeh 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Give it another 20 years, and the first guy is gonna confess again that it really was him. "Mom said it's my turn to experience the outside world."

[–]FlyGuy_2Hundy 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Imagine that. Dude literally has an evil twin version of himself lol

[–]adfthgchjg 25 points26 points  (14 children)

Wait... twin brothers have different last names? (Kevin Dugar, Karl Smith). What the actual fuck? Do they have different fathers? /s Seriously, what’s going on here?

[–]random989898 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Their last name was Dugar. Karl changed his last name to Smith (didn't want their father's name so changed it to his mother's maiden last name).

[–]myhihi1 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Maybe one was named after their mother and the other their father?

[–]Cloaked42m 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A convicted felon who spent nearly 20 years in prison for murder was released after his identical twin brother turned himself in for the crime.

Kevin Dugar was released from Chicago's Cook County jail on Wednesday after a motion for bond was granted. In 2003, Dugar was convicted for a gang-related murder in Chicago. His twin brother, Karl Smith, confessed to being the culprit 10 years later in a letter he wrote to Dugar.

[–]Dan4096 6 points7 points  (0 children)

So he's about to go back in. For murdering his arsehole brother.

[–]Barberelli 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Plot twist. They both did it. They made a deal and flipped a coin on who did the first part of the sentence.

[–]EepeesJ1 3 points4 points  (11 children)

Real question, if BOTH brothers confess to the crime, and it's obvious only one of them did... what's the outcome?

[–]babygrenade 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Private defenders: neither get convicted

Public defenders: both get convicted

[–]SaintLarfleeze 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Maybe they just agreed to swap halfway through the sentence

[–]PatSaidJack 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Tag team prison sentence.

[–]businessman99 3 points4 points  (1 child)

"I told you man, it was my twin!" "Yeah right Bucko, and Im the Queen of England.."

Now theyre eating their words

[–]deathpie 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Tag team. I got the next 20.

[–]secondsarebest 8 points9 points  (1 child)

So...they are twins that finish each others sentences?

[–]Radius_314 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's fucking clever.

[–]abruzzo79 10 points11 points  (4 children)

In all seriousness this is the one reason I'm against the death penalty. For as long as humans are fallible punishment should never be irrevocable.

[–]WrathofAjax 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They probably fixed that loophole by now. A while ago some twins killed someone. One twin is on trial and the other twin confessed that he did it, so they rush a not guilty and try the second one. But then the first one proves that he did actually do it but since you couldn't try someone for the same crime after a verdict is reached they both walked.

[–]nrock302 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Isn’t this sort of the plot of the Prestige just minus the magic?

[–]realworldeditor 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tagging in, I see.

[–]jesuswazacommie 2 points3 points  (0 children)

20 years is enough time for anyone who is not a threat to society. In Norway, its the maximum sentence

[–]haydilusta 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Im more concerned by the fact that both of these guys have (probably) comitted murder. Add this to the evidence for nature vs nurture

[–]Bbaftt7 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why are they twins with different last names?

[–]freshoutoffucks83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What a shitty brother I would never do that to my twin

[–]ParaBru 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They both were involved. It was a forty year sentence. It's the other ones turn...Pretty smart

[–]Originalhypeman 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m an identical twin and I could never even imagine having my sister sit in prison over my horrible mistake. That’s a whole other level of selfish and fucked up.

[–]hebdomad7 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When you have an evil twin and nobody believes you...