WHEATON, Ill. (AP) - Seven current and former law enforcement officials committed ``intentional misdeeds'' in their investigation of a 1983 murder case, a special prosecutor told jurors today.
Special state's attorney William Kunkle said a ``long and tortured history'' of wrongdoing by police and prosecutors led to a death sentence for Rolando Cruz, who spent years behind bars before being freed when a key witness changed his testimony.
``The sorry history of this prosecution is a history of intentional misdeeds, a history of official misconduct and lies,'' Kunkle said in his opening statement as the trial for the seven got under way.
The three former DuPage County prosecutors - one of them now a judge - and four sheriff's deputies are accused of lying, creating evidence and conspiring to railroad Cruz for the 1983 rape and bludgeoning death of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico. She was home sick from school when she was taken from her parents' house in the southwest Chicago suburb of Naperville.
With Jeanine's parents, Pat and Tom Nicarico, sitting in a rear row out of the jury's sight, Kunkle said that much of the evidence at the trial would come ``from the mouths of these very defendants.''
``You're going to hear from Rolando Cruz and you're going to have to evaluate his testimony,'' said Kunkle, who was appointed to avoid a conflict of interest for the state's attorney's office.
Kunkle acknowledged that the murder and rape of Jeanine was a heinous act, but warned jurors not to concentrate on that.
``There is no worse crime, but that isn't the issue,'' Kunkle said. ``The issue in this case is the deeds and the methods used to convict Rolando Cruz.''
Defense attorneys argue their clients are the real victims of overzealous prosecution and suggest that Cruz was indeed a killer.
Cruz was a small-time troublemaker and burglary suspect from neighboring Aurora when he enticed cops with tidbits - true and false - about the crime before he was charged. He did not testify before juries that convicted him in 1985 and 1990.
Cruz will try to convince 12 jurors that he did not give detectives a now-infamous statement about a ``vision'' or ``dream'' that allegedly included incriminating details about the crime. The statement became a cornerstone of the prosecution, but Kunkle contends it was concocted by desperate prosecutors and detectives who mistakenly believed they had the right man.
The detectives never wrote a report about the statement, and it was not revealed to defense attorneys until the eve of the first trial for Cruz and fellow defendant Alejandro Hernandez, who was also twice convicted.
Cruz was acquitted in 1995 in a third trial at which a sheriff's department supervisor reversed his previous testimony, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the vision statement. Charges against Hernandez were later dismissed.
Besides Knight, now in private practice, the defendants are two other former DuPage County assistant state's attorneys: Patrick King, now an assistant U.S. attorney; and Robert Kilander, now a DuPage County circuit judge; and four sheriff's department officers: detectives Thomas Vosburgh and Dennis Kurzawa and Lts. James Montesano and Robert Winkler.
All are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to commit official misconduct. The police face additional charges, including perjury.