May 8, 2009 7:03 pm US/Central
Rivera Found Guilty Of Murder For 3rd Time
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
Juan Rivera's third trial for the notorious 1992 rape and murder of Holly Staker ended Friday the same way as his first two -- with a guilty verdict.
A Lake County jury deliberated for nearly 35 hours over four days before convicting Rivera of raping, stabbing and strangling the 11-year-old Waukegan girl.
He faces a sentence of 20 years to life in prison after being found guilty on two of three counts of first-degree murder.
Rivera's family members wept openly in the courtroom after the verdict was read, and declined comment as they left the Lake County Courthouse.
Lead defense attorney Thomas Sullivan said: "We remain convinced of his innocence, and we'll continue to work on this."
Rivera's two earlier convictions were tossed out in favor of new trials, prompting Lake County prosecutors last month to try him a third time.
The seven-woman, five-man jury heard three weeks of testimony and then began deliberating on Tuesday.
Holly was raped and murdered the night of Aug. 17, 1992, while she babysat for two children at the Waukegan apartment of Dawn Engelbrecht, a family
friend who lived nearby.
The girl's half-clothed body was discovered in the apartment after Engelbrecht's 5-year-old son was found wandering unattended outside.
Rivera, who was 19 at the time of the murder and lived in the neighborhood where it occurred, became a suspect a few months after the slaying while serving a prison term for an unrelated burglary.
During days of intensive questioning by police, Rivera -- who has a low-function IQ of about 79 -- allegedly confessed to the girl's murder.
He was convicted in 1993 of her slaying. After that verdict was tossed out on appeal, he was convicted again of the killing in 1998. But improvements in forensic testing helped win Rivera a third trial.
In 2006, Lake County Judge Christopher Starck ordered the new trial after advanced DNA testing showed Rivera couldn't have left semen found in the
girl's body after she was slain.
Rivera's defense team -- which includes attorneys from Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions -- argued that the DNA tests alone show Rivera didn't commit the fatal attack.
Prosecutors, though, still insisted Rivera killed the girl, contending she may have had sex with someone else before she was raped and murdered by Rivera.
Holly's twin sister testified that the girls had their first sexual experience when they were 8 years old. Defense attorneys countered, however, there was no evidence that Holly had been sexually involved with anyone at the time she was slain.
Defense attorneys also insisted that police investigators forceful questioning prompted Rivera to confess to a killing he never committed.
-- Sun-TImes and Lake County News Sun
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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