Judge sides with homeowner, won't allow photos in Staker house
William Sampson does not want any strangers in his basement.
The owner of the Waukegan house where Holly Staker was murdered in 1992 convinced a Lake County judge Thursday to reverse a ruling he had made just moments before by rising to his feet in the courtroom and arguing his case.
Circuit Judge Christopher Starck originally ruled that defense attorneys for Juan Rivera could go into the basement of the house and take photographs before Rivera's third trial for the rape and murder of the 11-year-old girl.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Urdangen told Starck the photos were necessary because prosecutors are expected to call a witness who claims to have seen Rivera in the basement chasing the girl with a knife in his hand.
Sampson was refusing to let the defense team in, Urdangen told Starck, and the attorney wanted a court order to force Sampson to open the door.
Starck agreed at first, saying Rivera's "Constitutional rights trump whatever right to privacy Mr. Sampson may have."
But that was before Sampson, who was sitting in the courtroom at the time, weighed in on the subject.
Carrying his World War II Veteran cap in his hand and explaining to Starck that he is an "82-year-old man who fought for his country and pays his taxes," Sampson went to the bench held forth on his own rights.
"I don't want anybody in there because I went through a lot of hell with that house after what happened there," Sampson said. "I can't rent the place, because every time people find out what happened they move out and I can't even sell the place."
Sampson argued that the girl was murdered in the second floor apartment of the house, and police had virtually ruined a large portion of the house in their collecting of evidence.
"There is no reason for anybody to go down there because nothing is the same as it was back then," Sampson said. "I have replaced the furnace and everything has been cleaned up and painted several times."
Starck relented after hearing from Sampson and told Urdangen he was withdrawing his order to allow him access to the basement.
He told Urdangen that if the state does call the witness who says he saw Rivera and Holly in the basement, then he was free to call Sampson to testify about what the basement looked like in 1992.
"Mr. Sampson has been a victim throughout this case," Starck said. "I can see ways to resolve this without further invasion of his privacy."
Also on Thursday, Starck said he would not bar prosecutors from calling Brian Wraxall to testify in the case.
Rivera's defense team sought to bar the California scientist who did the DNA testing on material taken from Holly's body before the first trial of the case in 1993.
They said that Wraxall had nothing to do with a second round of tests done in 2005 that developed a DNA profile that does not match Rivera.
But Assistant State's Attorney Michael Mermel said that Wraxall was necessary because he contaminated some evidence he was testing with his own DNA and could testify that it was possible to get false results from DNA tests.
Rivera is scheduled to go on trial beginning April 13.