Cardamone says he'll continue with fight to clear his name

Michael Cardamone lost his good name, a promising career, irreplaceable family moments and his freedom.

But the former Aurora gymnastics coach said he will risk losing even more of his future before admitting to sex crimes against his students -- crimes the imprisoned man insists he did not commit.

A state appeals court announced March 27 it overturned his conviction on charges of fondling seven young gymnasts. The reversal clears the way for a second trial if both sides can't reach a plea deal beforehand.

In his only prison interview, Cardamone said he will continue the fight to clear his name, even if he has to gamble on another trial. It is his second Daily Herald interview in recent years. He had predicted his conviction would be reversed.

Similar to before, Cardamone remains determined to clear his name and vows he is not ready to back down.

"There will be no plea deals," he said emphatically during a nearly 1½-hour telephone interview in which his attorney was present. "I have showed up every day in this fight to prove my innocence, and I will continue to do that until this whole nightmare and falsehood is put to rest."

The fight of his life

Cardamone was serving a 20-year term at Taylorville Correctional Center, eligible for parole in 2016.

The 31-year-old man remains in prison, in legal limbo for at least this summer while prosecutors appeal the appellate court ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.

At least 19 female students, mostly from Naperville, accused Cardamone of inappropriately touching them --allegations dating back to 1997. Authorities said they found enough evidence to charge Cardamone based on the complaints of 14 of the girls. He was arrested Dec. 3, 2002, and faced a mandatory life sentence if convicted of at least two predatory criminal sexual assaults.

On March 11, 2005, after 22 hours of deliberations over three days, a sequestered DuPage County jury returned to the packed courtroom with its verdict. One juror wept.

Members found Cardamone guilty of the aggravated criminal sexual abuse of seven girls but acquitted him of charges involving seven other students at his family-owned American Institute of Gymnastics. They also found him innocent of the predatory criminal offenses.

The verdict ended an arduous eight-week trial with about 100 witnesses who testified 140 hours in 26 days.

As sentencing neared, his supporters collected 1,000 signatures seeking probation and even held a vigil. It didn't help. On Dec. 5, 2005, DuPage Circuit Judge Michael Burke, with sentencing options from probation to 63 years, issued the 20-year sentence with these words:

"This court is presented with a pedophile, a serial sexual offender of children who is untreated and untreatable," he said. "He is untreatable because he takes no accountability for his actions. He shows no remorse for his actions and no empathy for his victims."

But, in its recent 69-page opinion, a three-judge appellate panel found Burke erred in letting the jury hear too much evidence of uncharged alleged sexual conduct with the girls.

Though the law allows such evidence, justices argued in this case it was far more prejudicial than probative and, thus, denied Cardamone a fair trial.

Cardamone, who grew up in Naperville, testified in his defense. The former coach said he tried to remain confident but, as more accusations swirled, including some he claims he'd never heard, his hope faded.

"It was a nightmare," he said. "There were pile after pile after pile of accusations being heaped on me. I was kind of outside of my body, looking down, thinking, 'This can't be right. This can't be fair. This can't be allowable.' "

The appellate panel also took issue with Burke's decision to exclude a defense expert who would have testified how children can develop false memories through leading questioning. Burke wanted jurors as fact finders to base the girls' credibility on their testimony rather than the opinion of a hired expert.

Furthermore, the appellate decision found the jury should have been given an additional instruction regarding the need for a unanimous verdict.

During the trial, prosecutors painted Cardamone as a serial child molester who methodically manipulated his gymnasts so the young girls endured repeated abuse rather than betraying him.

The gymnasts could not always recall absolutes, and their stories evolved, but they held firm under meticulous cross examination that Cardamone inappropriately touched them beneath their leotards, usually during stretching exercises, in the crowded gymnasium.

DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said there is little reason to doubt the gymnasts' stories.

"Kids don't make this sort of thing up," he said. "In the rare circumstance when they do, it's exposed long before trial. Children do not go into a courtroom in front of 12 strangers and lie about being sexually abused.

"In fact, the opposite is usually true. It's more common for a child to deny it."

To counter Cardamone's accusers, his attorneys called 86 other gymnasts, parents, teachers and coaches who said they never saw him make an inappropriate move. The defense said it all began with the first girl's wild imagination, spread through gossip, and developed into false memories because of leading questioning.

They argued the case created a mob mentality among litigious parents, who still are locked in a civil battle with Cardamone and his mother, Linda Lynch, who owns the gymnastics facility and school. The parents accuse her of ignoring or covering up earlier incidents.

For example, Cardamone once fell through a ceiling near where authorities said the girls change their clothing. But Cardamone said he was doing repair work in an area of the gym nowhere near the locker rooms.

Lynch and the rest of his family stand staunchly by Cardamone. His wife, Liz, was a fellow coach working near her husband when some of the crimes allegedly took place. His older sister, Alysha Millard, who fainted when the guilty verdicts were read, also works there.

And the defendant himself remains steadfast.

"I stood my ground," Cardamone said. "I stood up for who I was and that's not going to change.

"I've gone so far and lost so much. You get to a point where you can only take so much. I'm done. They've robbed me of my name, my freedom, my work and my years of trying to build a life for me and my family. There's nothing else they can take."

Waiting …

Cardamone won't accept a plea deal, but Birkett said he isn't offering one.

"Based upon the nature of the allegations and his history, I am not going to lightly let this case go," he said. "It's not going to happen. The jury's verdict said this defendant is a serious threat to public safety."

The appeals team attorneys, Kathleen Zellner and Douglas Johnson, are confident the reversal will stand. They said the Illinois Supreme Court statistically agrees to hear less than one-quarter of such requests.

"In my opinion, the appellate court took great care in drafting the decision," Johnson said. "I believe it is rock solid and will not be reversed."

If so, Cardamone will seek to be set free on bond until he goes to trial again. Prosecutors will fight the request.

Despite the sex abuse reversal, the appellate court earlier let stand a separate conviction for harassing a witness. Cardamone called 911 after leaving court July 7, 2004, to report an intoxicated driver. The driver turned out to be an accuser's mother, sober, who also just left court.

"He's still a convicted felon," Birkett said. "He's not going anywhere."

Meanwhile, Cardamone is being held at a minimum-security state prison with about 600 other male adult inmates. He tries to stare clear of trouble and stay focused through exercise and working from 8 to 3 p.m. daily as a property clerk.

Cardamone said he speaks every day with his family on the telephone, and they make the three-hour drive each week to visit him. In fact, his family spends its Christmases and other holidays in a hotel so that they can be with him.

That's the hardest part, he said. His wife, Liz, is basically a single parent raising two sons, ages 4 and 3. He missed first words, steps, baseball games, swimming lessons and his youngest son's birth.

"It's amazing when you get thrown into the fire; you learn what you are capable of enduring," Cardamone said. "I would never have imagined I could make it through something like this. I'm surprised I'm still kicking."

Regardless of what happens, Cardamone said his family sustains him. He likens his reality to being trapped under water in a box where no one hears him screaming to get out.

More than five years after his legal saga began, he said, with the recent appellate decision, Cardamone said he finally has been heard.

"My pursuit is to be completely exonerated," he said. "I am confident my innocence will prevail if I have to go through another trial.

"My prayer now is to return home to my family and pick up the pieces of a life left destroyed and to move forward."

The People vs. Michael Cardamone

Dec. 3, 2002: Police arrest Cardamone at his Aurora home on suspicion he inappropriately touched six young gymnasts under the coach's tutelage at his family's gym. Prosecutors later add more counts involving a total of 14 girls.

July 7, 2004: Cardamone, while free on bond, is accusing of harassing an accuser's mother after court while making a false 911 call alleging she was driving drunk. His bond is revoked Aug. 19.

March 11, 2005: A DuPage County jury convicts Cardamone of inappropriately touching seven students, acquits him of charges involving seven others, after 22 hours of deliberations during three days.

Dec. 5, 2005: Cardamone is sentenced to 20 years in prison. A month later, he gets a three-year term for the harassment charge.

March 27, 2008: An appellate court overturns his guilty verdict, orders a new trial. Prosecutors later ask the Illinois Supreme Court to intervene. The matter is pending.

Source: Daily Herald news files

.