Sentencing starts for man guilty in dice game slaying

Roughly a week of hearings began Monday to decide if a 27-year-old man is sentenced to death for a fatal shooting in 2005 at a dice game in Carpentersville.

Michael J. Calabrese was found guilty of first-degree murder at his trial in late October in the slaying of 25-year-old Edmund Edwards, who was gunned down at the Fox View apartments.

Citing a troubled childhood and a history of mental health issues, lawyers for Calabrese, in their opening statements, argued against a death sentence for the Wauconda man.

"Mike Calabrese is far from the worst of the worst," said John Hanlon, with the state's death penalty trial assistance office. "In fact, he's at the opposite end of the spectrum."

Kane County prosecutors say otherwise and on Monday launched their bid for the death penalty with testimony about Calabrese's history of trouble with the law and violence.

Calabrese has past convictions for burglary, theft and drugs. At 14, he was accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old and kicking a pregnant woman in the abdomen, prosecutors have said.

Edwards died May 1, 2005, in the parking lot of the Fox View complex, where a group of men were drinking, getting high and shooting dice.

Calabrese lost his money, left and returned with a revolver to rob Edwards, the winner that night, police said.

Instead of handing over his cash, Edwards ran. Calabrese unloaded the gun at him, dropping the Chicago Ridge man with a bullet in the back, according to trial testimony.

Testimony in the sentencing could run through Thursday. It's unclear when Judge Philip DiMarzio, who presided over Calabrese's bench trial, will pass sentence.

Under state law, Calabrese is eligible for a lethal injection because Edwards died during the commission of a felony -- the botched holdup -- and other factors.

If he is sentenced to death, the Calabrese case would be a first from Kane County since Luther Casteel in 2001.

Casteel was sentenced to die for killing two people and wounding 16 others during a shooting rampage at JB's Pub in Elgin, but the punishment was commuted to a life sentence in 2003 by then-Gov. George Ryan.