Aug 30, 2006 8:58 am US/Central
Man Gets New Trial In Slaying Of 11-Year-Old Girl
Tests Showed DNA On Victim Was Not That Of Juan Rivera
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) ―
A man serving a life sentence in the death of an 11-year-old girl in
Waukegan will be getting a new trial.
Juan Rivera, 33, was convicted twice in the 1992 killing of
Holly Staker. But in court documents, his attorney said DNA taken from the victim's body was not Rivera's.
The assistant state's attorney prosecuting the case says he believes Rivera is guilty.
Rivera signed two confessions to the killing several months after Holly died, but he has since maintained he was coerced into confessing.
Staker had been baby-sitting two young children at an apartment near her family's home in Waukegan when she was found dead with 27 stab wounds on Aug. 17, 1992. The two younger children were found unharmed.
Rivera was jailed on an unrelated burglary charge shortly after the slaying, and came to the police's attention after he allegedly told another inmate he knew who killed the girl.
In October of 1992, Rivera signed two confessions that were used as evidence in his 1993 trial. Rivera was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but in 1996 the
Illinois Appellate Court set aside the conviction and sentence, citing errors made by the trial judge.
Rivera was convicted at a second trial in 1998 and given a life sentence. State crime laboratory analysts then said DNA tests on semen found in Staker's body were inconclusive, but officials said testing procedures have since improved.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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