Rolando Cruz case

See also: Jeanine Nicarico murder case

In February 1985, a Hispanic man from Aurora, Illinois named Rolando Cruz and a co-defendant were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the 1983 kidnapping, rape, deviant sexual assault and murder of 10-year old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County Circuit Court despite the fact that the police had no physical evidence linking them to the crime. Cruz was pardoned after more than 10 years in custody.

Events

On February 25, 1983, 10 year-old Jeanine Nicarico (born July 7, 1972) was abducted in broad daylight from her home in Naperville, Illinois. Suffering from the flu, Jeanine was at home alone while her parents were at work and her sisters were at school. Her body was found 2 days later, six miles from her home.^[1] She had been raped and beaten to death.

Rolando Cruz, a 20 year-old gang member from Aurora, was not initially a person of interest for the crime until he attempted to claim the $10,000 reward for information on the murder with a fabricated story.^[2] There was enormous public and political pressure on the state attorney's office to solve the highly publicized case and the police and prosecutors became convinced of Cruz's guilt. One of the investigating detectives however was convinced of Cruz's innocence and resigned so he could testify for the defense. Later an Assistant Attorney General, Mary Brigid Kenney, also resigned claiming "I was being asked to help execute an innocent man".^[3] In 1987 Cruz, along with Alejandro Hernandez and Stephen Buckley, were charged with Jeanine's rape and murder despite a lack of evidence. Cruz and Hernandez were convicted in a joint trial and sentenced to death. The jury deadlocked on Buckley and he was not retried.

In November 1985, another man, Brian Dugan, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole for two unrelated similar homicides (one a seven year old girl) committed in nearby Kane and LaSalle Counties. At the time of his arrest he had also confessed to the Jeanine Nicarico murder but this information was withheld by prosecutors from Cruz's two retrials.

First Appeal

The convictions were overturned on January 19, 1989 due to a prosecutorial error and Cruz and Hernandez were retried separately. The Illinois Supreme Court upheld Cruz' conviction and death sentence in February, 1990. Justice Heiple, writing for the majority, found errors in the trial but dismissed them as harmless in light of the "overwhelming" physical evidence. This decision sparked an understandable public outcry, since even prosecutors had to admit that no physical evidence existed linking Cruz to the crime, much less "overwhelming" physical evidence. Hernandez' second trial ended in a hung jury, but a third trial ended in his conviction. On May 17, 1991, Hernandez was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

Further appeals and exoneration

Cruz appealed again in December, 1992 and his second conviction was again upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court. Assistant Attorney General Mary Brigid Kenney, who was assigned to fight Cruz's appeal, sent a memo to Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris identifying numerous errors in the investigation and trial in Cruz's initial conviction including "perjured testimony" and "fraudulent investigations by local officials".^[4] Burris disputed Kenney's contentions, claiming he could not hold his judgement higher than the jury and that it was his job to uphold a jury's decision^[5] and Kenney resigned in protest.

In 1994 the verdict was overturned again. During the third trial, a sheriff's lieutenant who had provided key evidence at the original trial reversed his testimony and admitted he had lied under oath, DNA tests also eliminated Cruz and his co-defendant, Alejandro Hernandez as the contributors of the semen found at the crime scene and implicated Brian Dugan who had confessed to the crime in 1985.^[6] On November 3, 1995, a DuPage County judge acquitted Cruz on the basis of recanted testimony, the DNA evidence, and the lack of any substantiated evidence against Cruz. In December 1995, the charges against Hernandez were dismissed by the State's Attorney

Aftermath

Seven DuPage County law enforcement officials, three prosecutors and four deputies, were indicted by a grand jury in December 1996 on 47 charges of conspiracy to convict Cruz despite being aware of exculpatory evidence. In April 1999, the trial of the "DuPage Seven." began, and ultimately all seven officers were found not guilty by Judge William Kelly. However, a civil suit brought by Cruz, Hernandez and Buckley was settled by DuPage County for $3.5 million in autumn of 2000.^[7][8]

Cruz was fully pardoned by Governor George Ryan in 2002.^[9] A third man, Steven Buckley, who was also initially suspected of the crime, due to his alleged bootprint being found on the Nicario's front porch, was also cleared of any wrongdoing.

In November 2005, Dugan was indicted for the Nicarico murder.^[10][11] On July 28, 2009, 52-year-old Dugan pled guilty with his 1985 confession being made public for the first time on October 14.^[12] On October 7, 2009, the jury determined Dugan was eligible for the death penalty which under state law requires that he qualifies for at least one of four conditions: that the victim was younger than 12, the crime was exceptionally brutal and heinous, a previous conviction for at least one other murder or that the crime was committed during the course of another felony. The sentencing phase is expected to last up to six weeks.^[13]

The public outcry from the Cruz case resulted in Governor George Ryan declaring a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois, asserting that the system was "fraught with error."^[14]

On March 11, 2011, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the death penalty in Illinois into law.

References

1. ^ Cohen, Adam (March 21, 1999). "The Frame Game". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,21810,00.html. 
2. ^ http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=326645
3. ^ Report: Burris Once Drew Criticism for Prosecuting Innocent Man Fox News January 02, 2009
4. ^ Eric Zorn (1998-03-03). "Burris failed his only major test in office as AG". Chicago Tribune. http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/12/burris-failed-his-only-major-test-in-office-as-ag.html. Retrieved 2008-12-31. 
5. ^ Burris, Roland W. "Letters." Illinois Issues April 4, 1994. Pages 4 & 7. Accessed February 20, 2009.
6. ^ "Case Studies of Exonerations - Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez (Chicago, Illinois)". DNA.gov. http://www.dna.gov/case_studies/convicted_exonerated/cruz_hernandex. Retrieved 2008-12-31. 
7. ^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1049329
8. ^ "Not Guilty Plea Entered In Jeanine Nicarico Case". Associated Press. January 18, 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930181708/http://cbs2chicago.com/local/local_story_018093430.html. Retrieved 2007-07-23. 
9. ^ "Rolando Cruz". Northwestern Law Center on Wrongful Convictions. http://www.law.northwestern.edu/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/ilCruzSummary.html. Retrieved 2008-12-31. 
10. ^ Art Barnum (July 18, 2007). "Dugan might face new claims: Judge weighs use of allegations at trial". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/nearwest/chi-dugan_12jul12,1,1360442.story?coll=chi-newslocalnearwest-hed. Retrieved 2007-07-23. ^{[dead link]}
11. ^ http://www.dcba.org/brief/mayissue/2005/art10505.htm
12. ^ Dugan's confession to Nicarico murder read in court Chicago Tribune October 14, 2009
13. ^ Jury Decides Brian Dugan Qualifies for Death Penalty Chicagoist October 7, 2009
14. ^ http://www.dcba.org/brief/mayissue/2005/art10505.htm