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Have you hugged your convicted felon today?
Pardoned Death Row Inmate Bails Buddy Out Of Jail
POSTED: 8:04 a.m. CDT May 11, 2003
CHICAGO -- A former death row inmate has bailed out of jail a friend who was awaiting a new trial after his murder conviction was overturned.
Former inmate Aaron Patterson handed over a check for $100,000 Saturday to get former El Rukn street gang leader Nathson Fields out of jail.
Patterson was pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan, and he and Fields had spent time together on death row.
It was Fields' first taste of freedom in nearly 20 years. He has been held at the Cook County Jail since 1998 when his conviction in two 1984 murders were overturned.
The convictions of him and another man were overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court after the judge in the case was himself convicted in 1993 of racketeering for fixing murder cases.
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