Aurora man faces retrial in stepdaughter's murder

Jury selection is under way in the retrial of an Aurora man accused of murdering his 16-year-old stepdaughter to silence her about an earlier rape.

Laurence Lovejoy, 45, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 2007, but the Illinois Supreme Court later overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial.

Lovejoy is accused of beating, poisoning, stabbing and drowning stepdaughter Erin “E.J.” Justice in a bathtub at her mother's Aurora townhouse on March 27, 2004.

Among other physical evidence, forensic experts found what they said was a partial bare footprint belonging to Lovejoy on a bloody bathroom tile at the crime scene.

The footprint ended up being the piece of evidence that led Lovejoy to be granted a new trial. Justices ruled he was not given the chance to call a last-minute expert to rebut a sheriff's scientist who testified about the print.

Prosecutors have argued Lovejoy killed Erin in an effort silence her after she told police shortly before her death that her stepfather had sexually assaulted her in Naperville on March 3, 2004.

Erin, a Waubonsie Valley High School track standout who aspired to be a model or crime scene investigator, was killed while awaiting the results of a test regarding the rape allegations.

In the earlier trial, experts testified that the tests later confirmed the presence of Lovejoy's DNA on the teen's chest and cheek — evidence that corroborated her account of how she was attacked.

Lovejoy's retrial is being prosecuted by DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin and assistant state's attorneys Mike Pawl and Jeffrey Muntz.

The defendant is represented by assistant public defenders Steve Dalton and Mark Lyon, and assistant state appellate defender Joseph Kennelly.

Jury selection began Monday in front of Judge Kathryn Creswell and is expected to continue through this week and possibly into next. Prosecutors are again seeking the death penalty if Lovejoy is convicted.