Lake Co. man gets 33 years in murder of wife

Witnesses testified Friday that John and Nadine Dean loved each other and were trying to keep their marriage together.

But witnesses also testified about the frequent violence between the two and that both had been arrested for domestic battery against each other.

"They had a difficult time living together," psychiatrist Henry Conroe said. "They also had a difficult time living apart."

John Dean was sentenced to 33 years in prison Friday for the final explosion of rage on Feb. 20, 2007, when he stabbed Nadine to death in their Wildwood neighborhood.

The two were arguing while seated inside Nadine Dean's car in their driveway, then she was stabbed as she ran to a neighbor's house.

He fled in his wife's car after the stabbing, but was arrested later that day.

John Dean, 58, pleaded guilty Sept. 1 in exchange in a deal that would give him a sentence of no more than 45 years.

Married in 2000, the Deans' troubled relationship resulted in John Dean being arrested twice for beating his wife, and she was awaiting trial at the time of her death for stabbing him during an argument.

Michael Goss of Gurnee described how he stepped in when he saw Dean punching and dragging his wife through a parking lot on Route 45 in 2004.

Goss said he separated the two, got Nadine Dean to safety inside a business and was threatened by John Dean until he fled the scene.

"Nadine told me I was her angel," Goss said. "She said I had saved her life because he was going to kill her."

Assistant State's Attorney Britta Peffer asked Associate Judge Christopher Stride to impose all 45 years allowable under Dean's plea agreement.

She said while the strife within the Dean home was considerable, nothing Nadine Dean could have done should have resulted in her death.

"There are traumatic, troubled relationships throughout the country," Peffer said. "But that is never enough to excuse injuring someone or taking a life."

Defense attorney Alex Rafferty asked Stride to consider his client's significant mental illness, which resulted in a psychiatric discharge from the Marine Corps and several periods of hospitalization.

Rafferty said Dean should be sentenced to around the minimum of 20 years, in part because it was Nadine Dean who pulled out the knife that eventually killed her.

"This never would have happened if she had not pulled that knife on him," Rafferty said. "She had it hidden under the seat of her car."

In his statement to the court, Dean apologized for what he'd done but also said his wife triggered the incident.

Stride conceded the knife was some provocation, but said John Dean had escalated the situation by pursuing his wife when she ran.

"She ran from the violence you had visited upon her in the past and she ran from the violence you were about to visit upon her," Stride said. "You ran her down and killed her."