Jury finds Biedermann not guilty in stabbing death

Sobs erupted in the courtroom Friday as a jury found 30-year-old Joseph Biedermann not guilty of murdering a Hoffman Estates neighbor, who died after being stabbed 61 times.

A relieved Biedermann exhaled, his lawyer gripped his arm, his mother sobbed and hugged his father. Across the aisle, the family of Terrance Hauser sobbed too, but for entirely different reasons.

The eight-woman, four-man jury issued its decision shortly after 5:30 p.m. Friday, about five hours after beginning deliberations over Biedermann, charged with the 2008 stabbing death of the 38-year-old Hauser, known to his family by his middle name, Michael.

The jury had the option of finding Biedermann guilty or not of first-degree murder after the defense declined to include the option of a second-degree murder verdict. The all-or-nothing approach worked.

A visibly shaken Biedermann left the courthouse a free man shortly after 6 p.m.

"I would like to be with my family and be with God," he said.

"We're just happy he's coming home," said his mother.

Biedermann claims he killed Hauser in self-defense after Hauser threatened to sexually assault and kill him in the early morning hours of March 5, 2008, in Hauser's home in the 2200 block of Hassell Road in Hoffman Estates. Biedermann testified that he stabbed Hauser with Hauser's own medieval-style dagger as the two men struggled.

Closing arguments Friday echoed the themes the lawyers advanced in their opening statements.

"A picture speaks a thousands words," said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Clarke, as he showed the jury crime scene photographs. "And the pictures in this case speak volumes."

Clarke called Hauser's death "nothing less than a cold, brutal, senseless, killing" committed by a defendant who lied.

Biedermann claimed that Hauser invited him back to Hauser's apartment several hours after they met for the first time at a neighborhood bar near where both men lived in the Barrington Lakes Apartment Complex. Both men were intoxicated. Toxicology reports indicated Hauser's blood-alcohol content was .277; Biedermann's was .226.

Clarke refuted Biedermann's charges, saying the room showed no signs of a struggle. No chairs were overturned, wine glasses remained upright on a coffee table, and two video game guitars remained undisturbed. He also contrasted Biedermann's minor injuries to Hauser's 61 stab wounds including significant wounds to his jugular vein, lungs, kidney, pancreas and abdomen, any of which could have caused his death.

"He may be presumed innocent, but he's not presumed honest," said Clarke. "There are more holes in his story than a piece os Swiss cheese."

Defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. refuted prosecutors' claims.

"The state said there was no struggle, the medical examiner testified there was," said Adam, referring to Dr. Ponni Arunkumar's testimony regarding Biedermann's DNA found under Hauser's fingernails.

After the incident, Biedermann ran to his apartment, leaving his coat, shoes and wallet behind, Adam said. He banged on the door and yelled at his girlfriend, Ana Oleszkiewicz, to call 911 while he kept repeating: "Why did he do that? Why did this happen to me?" Adam said.

"When a man stabs a man 61 times there's a reason," Adam said. It wasn't robbery; nothing was stolen. It wasn't drugs; toxicology reports indicated both men tested negative for any drug but alcohol, Adam said. It wasn't jealousy; the men didn't know each other.

The reason was self-defense, Adam said, a claim Biedermann testified he made repeatedly while being treated for his injuries at St. Alexius Medical Center. He said he told a nurse a man tried to rape and kill him. The nurse did not testify.

Adam then posited a scenario where all the facts were the same save for one.

"Change one fact. Change Joey to Josephine and this man never would have been charged," Adam said.

In a fiercely argued rebuttal, Assistant State's Attorney Mike Gerber reminded the jury of the victim.

"Terrance Hauser was a lonely, little guy who lived by himself and wanted companionship," Gerber said.

Gerber also mentioned the defense's reference to a forensic examination of Hauser's laptop that revealed hits on Internet sites containing child pornography but indicated no images were downloaded.

"First he (Biedermann) covered (Hauser's) body in blood then he came in here and covered it with mud," Gerber said.

Hauser's family members left quickly without comment. His mother Catherine stopped to hug Hauser's 12-year-old son. Hauser's stepfather, Steve Meyers, had kind words for the prosecutors and Hoffman Estates Police Detective Robert McGowan.

"The police, the judicial system, they did their best," he said. "They helped us at every stage."

"We're healed," he said. "I'm worried about the community."