Illinois court clears man of 1992 rape, murder of eleven-year-old

Monday, December 12, 2011

A man who has been behind bars since 1992 is now cleared of wrongdoing in Illinois. Juan Rivera Jr. was tried three times for the rape and murder of Holly Staker, eleven, and convicted each time.

The evidence against Rivera centered on a disputed confession. Police questioned him for four days before he confessed. Prosecutors claimed the confession contained details only the perpetrator could know and Rivera was convicted, receiving life without parole. However, the new court ruling notes some details were reported by press and others were given to him by investigators asking leading questions. The ruling acknowledges this needn't have been unintentional and considers "psychological suggestion or linguistic manipulation."

No physical evidence linked Rivera to the young babysitter's death in a Chicago suburb. DNA testing in 2005 on sperm inside her body, which prosecution did not dispute was left there shortly before her death, showed it was not Rivera's; neither were blood and prints at the scene. At the 2009 retrial the prosecution posited two theories for the sperm mismatch: it was either contaminated, or the young girl was sexually active and it belonged to her lover. Rivera was electronically tagged at the time and the device placed him at home during the crime.

The Second District Illinois Appellate Court's new opinion holds that Rivera "has suffered the nightmare of wrongful incarceration," and that the girl's killer remains unknown.

Rivera was tried in Lake County, where prosecutors have a history of challenging DNA evidence. The most recent prosecutor in this case was Michael Mermel, who resigned over opposition from his bosses to comments he gave The New York Times. The Times used them in a piece highlighting the use of DNA evidence in Lake County.

It is unclear if legal process will move quickly enough to allow Rivera to be released before the new year. Prosecutors may yet challenge his release. Rivera described cheering from fellow inmates as the news reached them. "This is all I know, 19 years, this type of environment," he said. "It's strange to say, but I’m going to miss all my friends." He is now 39.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Andrew Martin. "Court Reverses Conviction of Man Jailed for 19 Years in Rape and Murder" — The New York Times, December 10, 2011
Diane Pathieu. "Court reverses 1992 Lake Co. murder conviction" — WLS-TV, December 10, 2011

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License