Ex-investigators want names cleared in regard to murder case

Lawyers for three former McHenry County Sheriff's detectives are asking a court to clear them of allegations of misconduct filed in a civil lawsuit by a man wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the 1993 murders of his parents.

In more than 550 pages of court documents filed late last month, the ex-investigators say the claims made by pardoned Death Row inmate Gary Gauger fail to show investigators had reason to believe he was anything but a guilty man when they arrested him for the slayings.

"The evidence does not support a finding that the detectives acted in an extreme or outrageous manner," their attorney, James G. Sotos, states.

"In addition, the evidence establishes that (Gauger) would have been prosecuted for the murder of his parents even in the absence of the alleged misconduct by the defendants."

The request comes about 4½ years after Gauger, of Richmond, sued former sheriff's investigators Beverly Hendle, Gene Lowery and Christopher Pandre, alleging they conspired to frame him for murdering his parents, Ruth and Morris Gauger, on the family farm in April 1993.

The suit claims the detectives fed Gauger phony information linking him to the slayings during a 15-hour interrogation, to coerce him into making incriminating statements. The statements, Gauger later said, were hypotheticals he offered at the urging of the investigators.

Those statements were a key piece of evidence when a jury convicted Gauger of first-degree murder in 1994 and a judge later sentenced him to death.

But less than two years later, federal authorities investigating the Outlaws motorcycle gang uncovered evidence linking two bikers to the murders of the Gaugers -- Morris, 74, and Ruth, 70. Both men have since been convicted of charges related to the slayings.

Gauger was released from prison in 1996 and pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan in 2002.

Hendle and Pandre are both retired from the sheriff's department. Lowery is now the department's undersheriff.

Documents filed by the detectives' lawyers do not argue that Gauger killed his parents, but do lay out a case against him justifying his arrest as reasonable, given the evidence police had at the time.

Judge Maureen McIntyre is scheduled to hear arguments on the request April 10.

Under state law Gauger only has to state he is seeking more than $50,000 in damages from the former detectives, though it is almost certain he will ask for much more if the case goes to trial.

Good first impression: Even before he officially hit the road as a McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy, Dwight Maness was making quite a positive impression on his superiors.

Sheriff Keith Nygren said last week that Maness recently received the Ervin H. Warren Award for his efforts during basic training at the University of Illinois Police Training Institute.

The award, named after the institute's first director, is presented to the recruit who best exemplifies the traits of honor, integrity and professionalism.

Maness was chosen for the award by his fellow recruits, as well as instructors and staff at the police training institute.