Man formerly on Death Row acquitted in retrial

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1517670,death-row-nathson-fields-aquitted-040809.article

April 8, 2009

BY RUMMANA HUSSAIN Staff Reporter

A former Chicago gang member who was sent to Death Row for a double homicide by a Cook County judge convicted of fixing murder cases was acquitted in his retrial today.

“I feel like my prayers have been answered,” Nathson Fields, 55, said after Judge Vincent Gaughan issued the not guilty verdict. “It’s like a dream.”

Fields spent 11 years on Death Row for the 1984 murders of rival gang members Jerome “Fuddy” Smith and Talman Hickman in the 700 block of East 39th.

He was granted a new trial in 1998 when the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that he and fellow El Rukn gang member Earl Hawkins had been denied a fair trial since Thomas J. Maloney, the judge who heard the initial case, took a $10,000 bribe from Hawkins’ lawyer to acquit the men but later returned the money and sentenced them to death when he learned he was under federal investigation.

[stray cat]

1. Best wishes for him - glad he is finally free and hope he gets help getting his life back