|
Jury in Illinois imposes 1st new death sentence
By JIM PAUL The Associated Press
updated: 02/27/2003 03:38 AM
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A Coles County jury decided Wednesday to impose the first death sentence in Illinois since former Gov. George Ryan emptied death row with a blanket clemency last month.
Anthony B. Mertz of Charleston was sentenced to die for the June 2001 rape and killing of 21-year-old Shannon McNamara, a student at Eastern Illinois University.
Mertz's conviction will be automatically appealed to the state Supreme Court, and a spokesman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich said the governor has extended former Gov. Ryan's freeze on executions.
Mertz, 26, showed no visible reaction as he sat shackled at the defense table while the jury's verdict was read by Circuit Judge Dale Cini.
After the jury left the courtroom, McNamara's mother, Cindy, exclaimed "You got him Shannon!"
"Shannon fought so hard for this," she said later through tears. "She would never allow this to happen to someone else."
"She destroyed this evil. She's our hero."
Mertz's two sisters and grandmother sat across the aisle from the McNamaras. His grandmother, Dorothy French of Rossville, cried quietly, and the sisters showed no visible reaction.
Shannon McNamara was killed in her off-campus apartment, which was across the street from Mertz's. Her mutilated body was found posed on her living room floor. Tom Schafer, a spokesman for the governor, said later that no one will be executed in Illinois until the Legislature enacts reforms.
Ryan commuted all 167 of Illinois' death sentences just days before he left office, reducing most to life in prison.
Mertz testified Tuesday that he has no memory of killing McNamara and testified that he often suffered blackouts while he was drunk.
Mertz's attorney, David Williams, had asked the jury to spare his client's life, arguing that Mertz's bad childhood and an adult life of alcohol and drug abuse led to his criminal acts and justify the jury's mercy.
Prosecutor Ed Parkinson countered: "He's a predator. He found his prey. He killed it, and he mutilated her."
Paula Phillips, another of Mertz's court-appointed attorneys, said she thought the jury's decision signaled a backlash against Ryan's clemency decision.
Coles County State's Attorney Steve Ferguson said he felt the jury's decision was the right one. "I feel the system triumphed," he said.
|