7 on Trial on Charge of Framing Innocent Man for Rape, Murder

WHEATON, Ill. —  Three former Illinois prosecutors and four sheriff’s deputies went on trial Tuesday on charges that they railroaded an innocent man for the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl.

The seven defendants lied and fabricated evidence against Rolando Cruz, who spent nearly a decade on death row, special prosecutor William Kunkle told the jury in his opening statement.

Legal experts said they cannot recall another trial in which prosecutors were charged with crimes for how they handled a case.

All seven defendants are charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to commit official misconduct. The sheriff’s deputies face additional charges, including perjury.

Juries twice convicted Cruz of killing Jeanine Nicarico, who was abducted from her home in Naperville in 1983.

Authorities pressed on despite evidence that another man might have been the killer, in spite of repeated losses in appeals courts and despite a campaign by religious leaders, law school deans and journalists who were convinced that Cruz was not guilty.

Then, during Cruz’s third trial in 1995, came a stunning turnabout.

A supervisor in the sheriff’s department recanted his previous testimony and cast doubt on a cornerstone of the prosecution: that Cruz had revealed incriminating details to detectives in a 1983 statement describing a “vision” or “dream” he had about the crime.

Cruz was found not guilty and charges against co-defendant Alejandro Hernandez were dropped.

On trial are three former DuPage County prosecutors: Thomas Knight, now in private practice; Patrick King, now a federal prosecutor; and Robert Kilander, now a DuPage County judge. Also indicted were sheriff’s Detectives Thomas Vosburgh and Dennis Kurzawa, and Lts. James Montesano and Robert Winkler.