Father held since 2005 freed after murder charges dropped

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2568528,CST-NWS-hobbs05.article

DNA ends case against Jerry Hobbs

LAKE COUNTY | Father freed after murder charges dropped

August 5, 2010

BY DAN ROZEK AND VERNON CLEMENT JONES Staff Reporters

Charged five years ago with fatally stabbing his young daughter and her friend, Jerry Hobbs III left the Lake County Jail a free man Wednesday.

In a court hearing that took less than a minute, prosecutors dropped murder charges that could have sent Hobbs to Death Row for the 2005 killings of Laura Hobbs, 8, and her friend, Krystal Tobias, 9.

DNA evidence recovered from his daughter's body -- and matched in June to another man, according to authorities -- prompted prosecutors to drop all charges against Hobbs, 39.

After the brief hearing, deputies led Hobbs, who was handcuffed and shackled, out of the courtroom through a side door, then out of the jail where he had been held since he was charged with killing the two girls on Mother's Day 2005.

[midnight]

1. This is wonderful.