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Posted: Saturday, 07 November 2009 7:34AM
Dugan sentencing enters final phase
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WHEATON (STNG) -- For the jurors seated in Judge George Bakalis' DuPage County courtroom, October was a month of true horror. For weeks they sat face-to-face with a serial killer as prosecutors outlined the unspeakable crimes he committed.
Through pictures, eyewitness testimony and his own admissions on tape, 12 ordinary people learned in agonizing detail the pain inflicted by Brian Dugan as he trolled the Fox Valley in the early 1980s.
On Friday, after more than a month of testimony, every detail had been heard. Both prosecutors and Dugan's defense rested their cases.
All that remains in the 26-year saga is closing arguments, which will take place on Tuesday.
On one side, prosecutors will likely reiterate the brutality of Dugan's crime against 10-year old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville, who Dugan has admitted to kidnapping, raping and bludgeoning to death on Feb. 23, 1983.
Jurors have found Dugan eligible for the death penalty, but must vote unanimously on the decision to enforce the sentence. Their other option is to sentence Dugan again to life in prison, where he already sits for the murders of Donna Schnorr, 27, of Geneva, and Melissa Ackerman, 7, of Somonauk.
Dugan's defense has called several expert witnesses during the past week to testify that Dugan is a psychopath who suffers from severe emotional disturbance. Leading this testimony was Kent Kiehl, a neuroscientist who has studied Dugan's brain.
On Friday, State's Attorney Joseph Birkett called his own expert to the stand. Psychiatrist John Brodie, who has written and taught about the pros and cons of using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) in a courtroom setting. Brodie argued that while the method used by Kiehl was done professionally and in good faith, the interpretation of the images could not be conclusive.
He struggled on the stand to relate the complexity of the subject to jurors, but was adamant that there is a long way to go before FMRI, or any brain function test, will be able to give doctors definite answers to the assumptions currently being made.
"Now -- even with all the techniques together -- it still leaves us one billionth of the way to where we need to be," Brodie said about the positivity of Kiehl's claims. "My problem is not with what (Kiehl) did, but how he interpreted what he did."
Jurors will make the ultimate decision when they start deliberations next week and pore over every detail again. Is Brian Dugan a remorseful man who has confessed his sins and is a victim of his own brain? Or is he a ruthless killer who deserves death?
Twelve people will have to come with an answer.
Closing arguments begin at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
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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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