Scott Turow’s Real-Life Courtroom ThrillerM. A. Farber In 1988 the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the convictions of Rolando Cruz and Alex Hernandez, holding that they should not have been tried together. In 1990, Cruz and Hernandez were tried separately. Brian Dugan, brought to court in shackles, refused to testify on behalf of either defendant because […]
Priest Oks going West to answer sex charges
Maria KantzavelosA Catholic priest living in Aurora who is facing charges that he sexually assaulted two altar boys in California will surrender voluntarily to San Benardino County authorities, his lawyer said Tuesday. Rev. Edward Lawrence Ball, 60, has been living in the Society of the Missionaries of Sacred Heart’s U.S. headquarters, at 305 S. Lake […]
Prosecutor says move to defense makes sense
Barsanti will do more of what he likes – ‘lawyering’ Sean D. Hamill With “John Barsanti for the defense.” It’s a quote few in Kane County’s legal community ever thought they’d hear. But for the last two weeks, it has regularly been heard in criminal courtrooms, after Barsanti, Kane county’s most experienced and successful criminal […]
Prosecutors: Addison mom cut son so they’d ‘die together’
Josh Stockinger Sameera Samreen was praying when she cut her own neck and then turned a 7-inch kitchen knife on her 3-year-old son cradled in her lap, prosecutors said in court Thursday. “She told investigators that if they were going to die, they would die together,” Assistant State’s Attorney Anne Therieau said. Therieau said Samreen, […]
Setting straight more Cruz facts
Eric ZornA flier now circulating in Naperville illustrates the tone and quality of the public campaigning that is likely to precede the retrial of Rolando Cruz. “Friends of Jeanine need your support,” reads the top of the one-page document distributed last Sunday at St. Raphael Catholic Church, the home parish of the family of 1983 […]
Sexual Assault Charges Against Ex teacher Dropped
Sean D. Hamill After a grand jury refused to return a criminal indictment against former Streamwood High School English teacher Dawn M. Kohn, Kane County prosecutors decided recently to drop three charges that claimed she had a sexual relationship with one of her former students. Kohn, 40, of Burlington, was charged Nov. 29 2000, with […]
Stallworth acquitted of employee theft
Mike Crase, Staff Writer A Dekalb County jury took less than 10 minutes to acquit a Sycamore woman accused of employee theft. The jury acquitted Valerie Stallworth, 38, last known address of 218 North Ave., on Sept. 24. Dekalb County Sate’s Attorney Michael Coghlan, who prosecuted the case, said Stallworth was accused of taking more […]
State denies tampering was reason
Mike Bailey Geneva The other shoe dropped in Kane County circuit court recently when an Elgin man received a minimum sentence on drug charges because of, his lawyer said, evidence tampering by former Elgin policeman. Heywood Hughes, of 602 Raymond St., Elgin, was sentenced to the minimum of six years in prison on each of […]
Statements Tossed in Kane Reckless Homicide Case
Josh Stockinger A Kane County judge Wednesday ruled to suppress statements a reckless homicide suspect made to police while receiving medical treatment following a one-car crash that killed his four passengers. Fakir M. Jaffrie, 26, of Crystal Lake, was questioned about the Sept. 8, 2007, crash west of Huntley while still at the scene, when […]
The Beacon News
No Evidence: Lawsuit claims civil rights violated by unjustified arrest Mike Cetera AURORA An Aurora man has sued the city and its police department s top DUI cop, alleging his civil rights were violated when he was jailed two years ago for drunken driving after passing a field sobriety test. Authorities later dropped charges against […]
Utica woman found fit to stand trial for arson
Bond reduction hearing Monday Tom Collins OTTAWA – The psychiatrist who had pronounced accused arsonist Sandra Pode unfit tostand trial now thinks the Utica woman has recovered. Defense attorney David Camic said Wednesday that Pode’s second visit to Dr. James Corcoran of Downers Grove resulted in a determination that she is now fit to stand […]
Geneva Sisters Found Guilty in Death of Mother
Josh Stockinger Mary Virginia Barry had already arrived at death’s door by the time her daughters called for help. When paramedics arrived at the family’s Geneva home on April 20, 2007, the 84-year-old weighed just 70 pounds and was covered in open bedsores and feces. Seven days later, she died. On Thursday, Kane County Associate […]