When it comes to the death penalty in Illinois, it has never failed to amaze me the degree to which people can talk tough but then hesitate when actually confronted by it.
What brings this to mind is my personal experience from when I was a full-time reporter-type person who (for one year) covered courts full-time.
I COVERED COUNTLESS criminal cases where a defendant was up for a death sentence. Yet in all but one case, the jury wound up going for the alternate of a life prison term.
Only once did I ever get to see a Cook County judge go through the ritual of reading a death warrant, culminating in that ever-eerie line, “May God have mercy on your soul.”
Of course, the whole concept of a death warrant being read is anti-climactic because of the amount of legal appeals that every single death row inmate is entitled to. There’s also the fact that Illinois still has a moratorium on executions, meaning that the 15 people now on death row aren’t in any danger of having execution dates scheduled no matter what happens.
My point in reciting all this is that I wasn’t all that surprised last week when one of the criminal defendants in the so-called “Brown’s Chicken Massacre” did not receive a death sentence – despite the fact that many people would view the slaying of seven people at a fast-food franchise in suburban Palatine as one of those extremely heinous crimes that warrants a heinous punishment.
SO JAMES DEGORSKI and Juan Luna both are now inmates within the Illinois Department of Corrections. They’re likely never to be released from prison. Considering their age, they could easily have another three or four decades of life.
Then again, considering prison conditions, their lives could be over soon. Who’s to say?
For those people with an interest in the death penalty and its application in this country, we’re going to get a similar tale in coming days out in suburban DuPage County.
Because that is where Brian Dugan is trying to ensure that he doesn’t have to move from a cell in the general population to one in the extra-secure hall where death row inmates are kept.
I COULDN’T HELP but notice the news coverage as officials of both “sides” presented their case.
Dugan is now claiming he may have once been a victim of John Gacy, the serial killer who was put to death in 1994. Perhaps he hopes that he can sway at least one person into thinking that he deserves some sympathy (similar to how Degorski’s mother testified at his sentencing hearings that his father helped twist James and his other sons sexually with the behavior he permitted around the house when the kids were growing up).
But the prosecution countered that by putting the parents of Jeanine Nicarico, who was 10 years old when she was abducted and killed and would be 36 now, on the stand.
We the public got to hear tales of how the Nicarico family was devastated by losing their daughter, and how they have yet to recover from the act – which Dugan has hinted at committing for years, but has always tried to avoid a death sentence.
HE’S ALREADY DOING life-prison terms for the slayings of other young girls in the distant suburbs back in the 1980s.
His current action was designed to get people to quit speculating about his tie to Jeanine’s death, while not adding to his overall punishment. When one is already doing multiple life prison terms, what is one more?
But the people who for decades have been determined to get a death sentence for the Nicarico crime are equally determined to make sure that a life prison term is not the end result.
So when this case finally goes to the jury sometime next month (testimony resumes at DuPage County court on Wednesday), it will be curious to see.
WILL DUGAN BE the victim of John Gacy? Or is he going to be the monster who devastated the Nicarico family’s lives (Jeanine’s father last week said Dugan is the “boogeyman” come to life)?
It will be curious to see which side can most overwhelm the impression of the jury. Will Dugan fall in that majority of criminals who are found eligible for execution but ultimately get a life prison term?
Or will he fall into the minority – becoming inmate number 16 on Death Row in Illinois?
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTES: Jurors who hold out against death sentences during deliberations can (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-death-penalty-holdouts-25-bdoct25,0,806297.story) face pressure (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-death-penalty-illinois-25-bdoct25,0,3895676.story) to go along with the majority.
“Too late for sympathy or remourse,” was the words from the mother of Jeanine Nicarico when she spoke (http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7080373) briefly last week.
Showing posts with label Jeanine Nicarico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeanine Nicarico. Show all posts
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Could we soon get an end to Dugan saga?
I’ll file this story under the category of, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
The Chicago Tribune reported that Brian Dugan, the man who has been incarcerated for nearly three decades now for the slayings of assorted girls and women, may now actually plead guilty to one of the “Crimes of the Century” for suburban DuPage County.
DUGAN IS THE inmate whose name has come up for years in conjunction with the disappearance and death of Jeanine Nicarico, who was a 10-year-old girl in 1983 when she was left home from school one day because she felt ill.
When her parents came home, Jeanine was gone. She was found dead days later.
The case became bogged down as two other men were repeatedly put on trial and convicted, then had those convictions overturned on appeal.
DNA technology eventually produced the evidence that let those two men get acquittals, even though some people insist they believe that Alejandro Hernandez and Rolando Cruz had to be involved in the crime somehow.
BUT BACK IN the days when Cruz and Hernandez were a cause celebre for the people who oppose the death penalty, they would always insist that Dugan was the true culprit.
In fact, throughout the years, Dugan has admitted to certain people that he committed the crime against Nicarico.
But he has never been willing to say such a thing to prosecutors, or under any circumstance in which he was under oath – which would make him liable to perjury if he were not telling the truth.
Dugan has always said he might be willing to talk, if he could be assured that he would not face a death sentence (he’s already serving prison terms adding up to life plus 155 years for other incidents against women and girls).
BUT THE PROSECUTORS who were eager to put Cruz and Hernandez to death by lethal injection are adamant in their desire to see someone die for this crime.
So Dugan has kept his mouth shut. Until now. Maybe. Unless he changes his mind in the next couple of days.
For as the Tribune accounts report, Dugan may use a status hearing in his case scheduled for next week to enter a “guilty” plea. But he would want a jury of his peers to then decide what his sentence should be, rather than allowing the judge in DuPage County to do so.
He seems to believe that if the jury merely has to decide his sentence, rather than his guilt and sentence, they might be inclined to give him yet another prison term (which considering that he’s already likely to spend the rest of his life in prison wouldn’t mean much of a change for him).
PERHAPS IT HAS something to do with the fact that prosecutors wouldn’t be hammering away at three-decade-old gory details of Jeanine’s death over and over. He might come up with a clinical explanation that lessens the horror of the incident.
DuPage County officials might be inclined to go along with this deal, just because it would finally bring this case that I remember covering two decades ago as a reporter-type for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago to a close.
How long has this case gone on?
Take into account that if Jeanine Nicarico were alive now, she’d be 36. In fact, I once remember Jeanine’s parents saying one of the hardest aspects of coping with the loss of their daughter was watching all of her youthful friends grow up into adulthood, and wonder what would have become of Jeanine.
BUT THE FACT that DuPage County is willing to go along with this legal scheme does not lessen their desire for a death sentence. They’re still going to push for it – even though the presence of the moratorium brought about by George Ryan and maintained by Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn means that Dugan is not likely to face an actual execution date for a long, long time.
This is one of those incidents that prosecutors are determined to get that “death sentence” for to put what they consider to be an appropriate ending to this case – even if it never results in an execution and merely ends up with Dugan having to move to a more-intense level of security within the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Of course, I couldn’t help but notice that even the newspaper notes the uncertainty of this appeal, as they point out in their story that Dugan could change his mind anytime between now and his scheduled Tuesday court hearing.
Considering his attitude throughout the years, it wouldn’t shock me if this thought of an ending to the Nicarico court battle being snatched away at Dugan’s whim is part of his desire to mess with prosecutors.
WHICH MEANS THIS could all be just an inmate’s game to keep himself amused at prosecutor expense.
After all, he’s 50 now, and has spent the bulk of his life in prison. What else does he have to do these days?
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTE: Prosecutors would be able to bring up gory details of the 7-year-old Somonauk girl and 27-year-old nurse for whom Dugan is already serving prison terms (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/dugan-may-plead-guilty-in-nicarico-murder-case.html) for killing.
The Chicago Tribune reported that Brian Dugan, the man who has been incarcerated for nearly three decades now for the slayings of assorted girls and women, may now actually plead guilty to one of the “Crimes of the Century” for suburban DuPage County.
DUGAN IS THE inmate whose name has come up for years in conjunction with the disappearance and death of Jeanine Nicarico, who was a 10-year-old girl in 1983 when she was left home from school one day because she felt ill.
When her parents came home, Jeanine was gone. She was found dead days later.
The case became bogged down as two other men were repeatedly put on trial and convicted, then had those convictions overturned on appeal.
DNA technology eventually produced the evidence that let those two men get acquittals, even though some people insist they believe that Alejandro Hernandez and Rolando Cruz had to be involved in the crime somehow.
BUT BACK IN the days when Cruz and Hernandez were a cause celebre for the people who oppose the death penalty, they would always insist that Dugan was the true culprit.
In fact, throughout the years, Dugan has admitted to certain people that he committed the crime against Nicarico.
But he has never been willing to say such a thing to prosecutors, or under any circumstance in which he was under oath – which would make him liable to perjury if he were not telling the truth.
Dugan has always said he might be willing to talk, if he could be assured that he would not face a death sentence (he’s already serving prison terms adding up to life plus 155 years for other incidents against women and girls).
BUT THE PROSECUTORS who were eager to put Cruz and Hernandez to death by lethal injection are adamant in their desire to see someone die for this crime.
So Dugan has kept his mouth shut. Until now. Maybe. Unless he changes his mind in the next couple of days.
For as the Tribune accounts report, Dugan may use a status hearing in his case scheduled for next week to enter a “guilty” plea. But he would want a jury of his peers to then decide what his sentence should be, rather than allowing the judge in DuPage County to do so.
He seems to believe that if the jury merely has to decide his sentence, rather than his guilt and sentence, they might be inclined to give him yet another prison term (which considering that he’s already likely to spend the rest of his life in prison wouldn’t mean much of a change for him).
PERHAPS IT HAS something to do with the fact that prosecutors wouldn’t be hammering away at three-decade-old gory details of Jeanine’s death over and over. He might come up with a clinical explanation that lessens the horror of the incident.
DuPage County officials might be inclined to go along with this deal, just because it would finally bring this case that I remember covering two decades ago as a reporter-type for the now-defunct City News Bureau of Chicago to a close.
How long has this case gone on?
Take into account that if Jeanine Nicarico were alive now, she’d be 36. In fact, I once remember Jeanine’s parents saying one of the hardest aspects of coping with the loss of their daughter was watching all of her youthful friends grow up into adulthood, and wonder what would have become of Jeanine.
BUT THE FACT that DuPage County is willing to go along with this legal scheme does not lessen their desire for a death sentence. They’re still going to push for it – even though the presence of the moratorium brought about by George Ryan and maintained by Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn means that Dugan is not likely to face an actual execution date for a long, long time.
This is one of those incidents that prosecutors are determined to get that “death sentence” for to put what they consider to be an appropriate ending to this case – even if it never results in an execution and merely ends up with Dugan having to move to a more-intense level of security within the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Of course, I couldn’t help but notice that even the newspaper notes the uncertainty of this appeal, as they point out in their story that Dugan could change his mind anytime between now and his scheduled Tuesday court hearing.
Considering his attitude throughout the years, it wouldn’t shock me if this thought of an ending to the Nicarico court battle being snatched away at Dugan’s whim is part of his desire to mess with prosecutors.
WHICH MEANS THIS could all be just an inmate’s game to keep himself amused at prosecutor expense.
After all, he’s 50 now, and has spent the bulk of his life in prison. What else does he have to do these days?
-30-
EDITOR’S NOTE: Prosecutors would be able to bring up gory details of the 7-year-old Somonauk girl and 27-year-old nurse for whom Dugan is already serving prison terms (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/dugan-may-plead-guilty-in-nicarico-murder-case.html) for killing.
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