North Suburban Bureau

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (Lake County News-Sun) ― As the first day of testimony in Juan Rivera's third trial began Wednesday, all eyes in the courtroom were glued to a giant television screen showing a video taken from the murder scene.

Panning past Mickey Mouse bed sheets and a wooden rocking horse, the camera finally settled on the bloodied body of a partially-dressed young girl sprawled on the floor. With the body of 11-year-old Holly Staker in full view, a silent room watched the camera slowly pan past stab wounds, before stopping on a partially-obscured face. Then more silence.

Staker's bloodied body was the defining image of a day that featured nearly four hours of opening arguments, and testimony from Staker's stepfather, who recounted the night his daughter's body was found.

Juan Rivera, 36, of Waukegan, has twice been convicted of raping and murdering Staker inside a Waukegan apartment in August 1992. And twice a new trial has been ordered based on new evidence in the case, including the most recent ruling, based on DNA evidence that rules out Rivera as the donor of semen found at the scene.

Prosecutor Michael Mermel told jurors Wednesday he intended to prove Rivera killed Staker, despite DNA evidence that may rule him out. The state has a signed confession from Rivera and sworn testimony from other inmates who claim Rivera confessed to them in private.

The confession, Mermel said was quite specific.

"What [Rivera] told [police] were only things that the killer would have known," Mermel said.

Mermel set up the crime in great detail for jurors, by explaining why Staker was babysitting for a family friend at the apartment near Hickory Street and North Avenue, and how exactly her body was ultimately discovered. He also described how she was violently raped and stabbed 27 times.

Mermel also explained how Rivera was initially thought to be a witness in the crime, but evidence slowly turned toward him being the suspect. And nearly two months after the crime -- and following many hours of questioning -- Rivera confessed, Mermel said.

"The defendant bowed his head, sobbed, and finally admitted that he killed Holly Staker," Mermel read from a 1992 document.

Thomas Sullivan, one of Rivera's many defense attorneys, methodically dissected Rivera's supposed confession. Sullivan told jurors that the confession was coerced after many hours of questioning by different officers. Rivera was fed minimally, and at one point he had a nervous breakdown and needed to be treated by a nurse at the county jail, Sullivan said.

The interrogation continued, however, and the final confession, Sullivan told jurors, was written in language free of shoddy grammar and slang that the low-IQ'd Rivera would have written.

A confession aside, the fact that DNA evidence excludes Rivera is major piece of information, Sullivan said.

"The DNA evidence, we will establish, excludes Juan Rivera. It trumps all this evidence of a confession," Sullivan said.

Sullivan also spent much of his opening arguments pointing the finger away from Rivera, toward another Waukegan man, who was initially the Lake County Major Crime Taskforce's top suspect in the slaying. Both Rivera and the second man have been ruled out by DNA.

Dozens of people filled the Lake County courtroom as lawyers argued in the morning. More than 40 people sat in the gallery, while a courtroom deputy had to turn away a few dozen more people because of lack of room. The afternoon was quieter, with roughly 30 people in the courtroom. They watched as the prosecution began with its witnesses, which included first-responders, who described photos and videos of the bedroom where Staker was found by a family friend.

Staker's step-father, Michael Kalinoski, recalled seeing the friend just seconds after the body was discovered.

"She had a look on her face I can still see to this day," Kalinoski said.

By Nicholas P. Alajakis / Lake County News-Sun

(CBS 2 and the Lake County News-Sun are news partners covering stories in the north suburbs. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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