Former inmate says Rivera pointed to himself as the killer

A man who was in the Lake County Jail with Juan Rivera testified Friday that Rivera hinted that he murdered 11-year-old Holly Staker.

However, Edward Martin said he did not tell police everything Rivera said to him because he was afraid of being labeled a snitch.

Rivera, 36, is on trial for the third time in Lake County Circuit Court for the Aug. 17, 1992 rape and murder of the Waukegan school girl.

He has twice been convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but new trials were ordered after both convictions.

About a month after the slaying, Rivera and Martin were housed in the same section of the jail.

Rivera was waiting to be sent to prison for violating his probation on a burglary conviction and Martin had recently been arrested for violating his own probation.

Martin, who was on probation for molesting an 11-year-old girl and lived directly across the street from the apartment where Holly was killed, said he was unpacking in his cell when Rivera first approached him.

He and Rivera had been close friends for more than a year, Martin said, and Rivera began talking about the killing almost immediately.

Martin said Rivera first told him about a suspicious man he saw at a party the night Holly was killed, a story Rivera would later admit was a lie, and then went into greater detail.

Martin said Rivera told him he was well acquainted with Holly, and used to walk her to the apartment where she would baby sit for two children.

Rivera told him he thought Holly was "fine" and "hot," Martin said, and he chastised Rivera for talking that way about a little girl.

Rivera also called Holly a "tease," used an angry expletive to describe her, Martin said, and then said something he found exceptionally chilling.

"He said she deserved everything she got, all 27 times," Martin said. "He kept making that point; he said all 27 times again and again."

An autopsy established that Holly had been stabbed 27 times and that fact had been widely reported in the aftermath of the killing.

Martin said Rivera went on to implicate himself in the slaying, but not directly.

"He said the police were so stupid that they were never going to figure it out," Martin said. "He said the guy is in jail and on his way to prison."

Rivera was transferred to the state prison system the day after Martin said the conversation took place.

About two weeks later, Martin told the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force about some of the conversation but not all of it. He said he only related the story about Rivera being at the party, and did not tell police he was well acquainted with Rivera.

Martin said he pretended that he did not know Rivera other than by a nickname "Rico," and told police Rico had been sent to prison.

He did not detail Rivera's other statements, Martin said, because he feared retaliation if it was discovered he had done so while he was still behind bars.

Under cross examination by defense attorney Thomas Sullivan, Martin denied he later hired an attorney in an effort to claim a reward after Rivera was arrested.

He also said he was questioned by police about his own possible involvement in Holly's death, but was able to prove he was in another state when the killing took place.

Testimony is expected to continue Monday.