Case was pivotal in state's death penalty freeze

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1690194,CST-NWS-duganjury29.article

July 29, 2009

Twenty-four years ago in the LaSalle County state's attorney's offices, Brian Dugan set off a bombshell that still is reverberating in DuPage County.

As Dugan was negotiating a plea agreement for two shocking murders -- those of Geneva nurse Donna Schnorr, 27, and of Melissa Ackerman, 7, of Somonauk -- he told his lawyer he also had killed 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville. At that time, two other men, Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, were on Death Row for Jeanine's murder, and DuPage County was proceeding with the retrial of a third man, Stephen Buckley.

Dugan's admission, bolstered by years of subsequent investigations, helped lead to the freeing of Cruz and Hernandez and the dropping of charges against Buckley. The Nicarico case also has been described as the biggest domino that helped lead to the overturning of many other death penalty convictions and a freeze on executions in the state.

Back in 1985, however, DuPage authorities refused to credit Dugan's admissions, which were not made in court. That could have been the end of the story, but Dugan continued to talk to State Police investigators, who verified much of what he said. Dugan's decision to keep talking after plea negotiations abruptly ended probably now will be at the heart of his attempt to avoid the death penalty as his trial moves into the sentencing phase.