Eight jurors selected for Dugan sentencing hearing

Lawyers are half way through picking a jury in convicted killer Brian Dugan's sentencing hearing, clearing the way for an Oct. 6 start date.

After three days of questioning potential panelists, lawyers agreed Thursday upon eight jurors. Four more are needed to complete the panel, as well as another four alternates.

Dugan, 53, pleaded guilty two months ago to the abduction, rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville Feb. 25, 1983.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Dugan, imprisoned for life since 1985 for two other sex slayings committed after Jeanine's murder.

So far, five women and three men are on Dugan's jury. The latest members are a male Naperville computer programmer, female Naperville human resources assistant, a female Lombard administrative assistant, and a young Addison network administrator who described himself as academically smart but lacking much street savvy.

They join a male retired Carol Stream stockbroker, female Woodridge banker, female Darien Walmart supervisor and a female financial clerk whose relatives include a judge and cop. All eight jurors said they lack strong personal death penalty beliefs and have minimal knowledge about the long Nicarico legal saga, in which two other men spent years on death row before their 1995 exonerations.

DuPage Circuit Judge George Bakalis has tentatively set Oct. 6 as the start of the sentencing hearing. Jury selection continues Friday in Wheaton.