DNA tests free suspect despite confession

CHICAGO -- Cook County prosecutors have dropped murder charges against a Chicago man despite his videotaped confession that he killed his mother in July 2000.

John Gorman, a spokesman for State's Attorney Richard Devine, said DNA tests on evidence from the crime scene linked another man to the fatal stabbing of Netta Bell.

The decision by prosecutors to drop charges comes one month after three men convicted more than 14 years ago in Cook County in the rape and murder of a medical student walked out of prison after DNA tests cleared them.

In the latest case, the South Side woman's son, Corethian Bell, 25, spent 17 months awaiting trial in the Cook County Jail. He was freed Friday after a brief hearing before Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. Darcy.

"It's to the state's attorney's credit that they motioned to bring him in early to get him out of jail as soon as possible," said defense attorney Herschella Conyers after prosecutors dropped the charges on Friday.

Conyers said Bell, who is mildly mentally impaired and has a long history of mental illness, was interrogated by police for 50 hours after he phoned officers to tell them that he had found his mother's body at her apartment.

Bell said in court papers that he repeatedly told police he was innocent, but they refused to believe him. He said that he finally agreed to make the videotaped confession because he believed he could later tell a judge the truth and be released.

"Videotaped confessions are a valuable tool," said Gorman. "But nothing is foolproof when human beings are involved. This case is very rare."