Dugan to face those who survived

Brian Dugan forever silenced three of his victims.

But those who survived his sexual violence will confront the triple murderer in the coming weeks when they tell a DuPage County jury of the anguish he left in his aftermath.

"Brian Dugan is a remorseless psychopath who takes what he wants, when he wants it and cares for no one but himself," DuPage State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said. "You are going to see a portrait of a horrible man who during the course of his lifetime has committed unspeakable atrocities against fellow human beings, including little children."

His inciting words came Wednesday at the start of the final phase of Dugan's sentencing hearing for the Feb. 25, 1983, murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville.

Earlier in the day, the seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated less than one hour before finding that Dugan qualifies under the law for a possible death sentence. They still must decide his punishment - execution or another life prison term - in an emotional hearing that will stretch across several weeks.

Nearly a dozen surviving victims will testify. The females - one as young as 10 - encountered Dugan outside a laundromat, gas station and a shopping mall, and while driving home, leaving work and simply walking down a street. Many were beaten and sexually abused.

Some escaped, including the girl who was with one of his murder victims, 7-year-old Melissa "Missy" Ackerman of Somonauk, on June 2, 1985, when Dugan tried to snatch them both while riding their bikes.

Melissa's friend, now in her 30s, has never spoken publicly about the day she encountered a real-life boogeyman. Birkett said she will take the stand.

Dugan, 53, has been serving life prison sentences since 1985 for two sex slayings. Besides Melissa, he also killed Donna Schnorr, a 27-year-old Geneva nurse.

But did Brian Dugan choose to rape and kill, or was he born that way?

In his opening statement, defense attorney Matthew McQuaid told jurors they will hear from renowned mental health experts who collectively agree Dugan is a diagnosed psychopath who suffers from a severe emotional disorder.

The defense is not arguing that the killer is criminally insane but, rather, that he has a genetic defect that causes psychopathic behaviors to manifest as young as 7 years old.

One particular defense expert, Kent Kiehl, a forensic psychologist who conducts clinical neuroscience research, formed an opinion about Dugan after measuring his purported abnormal brain function with a mobile MRI.

It takes only one lone juror to spare Dugan's life. His defense team also argues Dugan merits consideration for accepting responsibility that he alone abducted, raped and bludgeoned Jeanine, rather than fighting the charges at trial. Dugan, linked through DNA, pleaded guilty July 28.

He first offered to admit his guilt in 1985 after his arrest in Melissa's murder, but only if the death penalty was taken off the table. Prosecutors refused. They also didn't believe he killed Jeanine. By that time, in late 1985, two other condemned men - including Rolando Cruz - were sitting on death row for the crime.

McQuaid argued Dugan cooperated with authorities long ago to help the wrongly accused men, both exonerated in 1995. Dugan wrote a Nov. 1, 1985, affidavit in which he confessed. It read, in part, "in the event of my death, to ensure that innocent people are not murdered for a crime they had no part in."

Furthermore, even after Dugan's Nov. 19, 1985, life-without-parole plea deal for the two other murders, he continued talking to Illinois State Police Lt. Edward Cisowski - who back then stood alone in his belief that Dugan killed Jeanine. Dugan retraced his path in the Nicarico neighborhood, took a lie-detector test and agreed to undergo hypnosis.

"There were no promises. No guarantees," McQuaid said. "If he kept quiet, two innocent men would have moved toward their executions. He didn't choose silence. He told the truth."

Birkett countered that Dugan's real motivation was to save his own neck. He called the argument "minimal" at best, when compared to Dugan's violence.

Dugan had a 13-year criminal history dating back to a rash of 1972 burglaries. Arrests for arson, batteries, break-ins, vandalism and drug offenses followed.

In fact, prosecutors said, Dugan was a free man just four years, nine months between 1972 and 1985, and tried to escape twice during his incarcerations.

In that time, they said, his sexual deviancy grew. Through his survivors' testimony, prosecutors hope his past will come back to haunt him.

"You will relive their pain," Birkett said.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Video</h2> <!-- Start of Brightcove Player --> <div style="display:none"> </div> <!-- By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and C found at http://corp.brightcove.com/legal/terms_publisher.cfm. --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script> <object id="myExperience43606475001" class="BrightcoveExperience"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /> <param name="width" value="300" /> <param name="height" value="255" /> <param name="playerID" value="18011347001" /> <param name="publisherID" value="1659832549"/> <param name="isVid" value="true" /> <param name="@videoPlayer" value="43606475001" /> </object> <!-- End of Brightcove Player --> </ul> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=325418">Images of Brian Dugan's victims </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=325419">Images of Brian Dugan </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=325420">Images of Nicarico's wrongly accused </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=325421">Images from Brian Dugan's trials </a></li> </ul> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="/story/?id=308729">Dugan's criminal background</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308727">Timeline of Nicarico murder investigation, trials</a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=326654">Brian Dugan's victims</a></li> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=326645">Cruz: Dugan confessed to save himself <span class="date">[10/02/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=325829">Jury picked to decide Dugan's sentencing <span class="date">[10/02/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=317249">Dugan says he tried to confess in '85 to Nicarico slaying <span class="date">[08/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=310026">The statement Brian Dugan wanted to read in court <span class="date">[07/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=310014">Nicarico neighbor recalls the search for Jeanine, painful aftermath?<span class="date">[07/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=310033">State moratorium on executions - 10 years and counting<span class="date">[07/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=310040">A timeline of the Nicarico-Dugan cases<span class="date">[07/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308853">After a lifetime of violence, will jury show Dugan mercy?<span class="date">[07/23/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308535">Guilty plea expected in Nicarico murder <span class="date">[07/22/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=203555">Did one Chicago-area killer create another? <span class="date">[06/05/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308721">Inside the FBI files of Brian Dugan <span class="date">[01/07/07]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=308724">Grand jury indicts Dugan in Nicarico murder <span class="date">[11/30/05]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>