Lake County jury resumes deliberations on Rivera case

Jurors in the Juan Rivera murder case deliberated another seven hours Wednesday without reaching a verdict.

Rivera, 36, is on trial for the third time in Lake County Circuit Court for the 1992 rape and murder of 11-year-old Waukegan baby sitter Holly Staker.

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

Just after 4 p.m. Wednesday, Circuit Judge Christopher Starck called the seven women and five men of the jury into the courtroom to dismiss them for the day.

Starck said he was grateful for the work the jurors had put in during the nearly 14 hours of deliberation over two days, and wanted to let them go home early to refresh themselves.

He ordered them to return to the Waukegan courthouse at 9 a.m. today to resume their deliberations.

In the more than 16-year history of the case against Rivera, the current proceeding is the longest-running trial of the three. Today is the fourth day of the fourth week of the trial. Trials in 1993 and 1998 lasted three weeks from the beginning of jury selection to the delivery of a verdict.

The longest jury deliberations in the case were in 1998, lasting 36 hours over four days.