Police say a man who was released from prison after having spent 17 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit was fatally shot in Chicago while trying to rob someone on the city's Near West Side, police said.
Alprentiss Nash, 40, was fatally shot in the chest Tuesday afternoon in the 1600 block of West Van Buren, according to his attorney and police.
Nash’s attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said Tuesday that Nash was murdered during "a failed robbery attempt."
Police on Thursday said an investigation revealed Nash allegedly tried to rob a 30-year-old Mount Prospect man who he had a "long drug history with."
Paul Vukadinovic was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and carrying a loaded gun without a concealed carry license.
The pair were both armed at the time of the attempted robbery and exchanged gunfire before Nash was hit, according to authorities.
Nash was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County where he was later pronounced dead.
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Police said an investigation into the shooting is ongoing but is being explored as a "possible self-defense case."
Nash was previously sentenced to 80 years in prison for murder in connection with the 1995 death of Leon Stroud of Chicago's South Side.
He spent 17 years in prison before being released in August 2012 after evidence indicated he might not have committed the crime.
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said at the time that new DNA evidence and a collective investigation showed there was not enough evidence to convict Nash.
Nash said in 2012 that while he was shocked, he wasn’t angry. He just wanted to get on with his life.
"The time is now. I'm a free man and I'm going to move forward," he said.
According to court records, Nash was arrested shortly after the April 30, 1995, crime in Chicago's West Pullman neighborhood. He was convicted on witness testimony.
The killer wore a black ski mask during the crime. One was recovered from a gate post near Stroud's home. During a post-conviction appeal, Nash sought DNA testing of the mask. That was opposed by the state's attorney's office and subsequently dismissed by a circuit judge.
An Illinois Appellate Court later reversed that decision, ordering the DNA testing that in 2010 came back with a genetic profile matching another man.
