Hanson eligible for death penalty
A DuPage County jury deliberated for less than 30 minutes Thursday before finding a Naperville man eligible for the death penalty for executing his family.
The panel of eight men and four women returns Friday morning to begin considering whether Eric C. Hanson should die for his crimes or spend the rest of his life in prison. Hanson, though sullen, did not outwardly react as a clerk read the jury verdict.
In Illinois, to be eligible for death, a defendant must be at least 18 and be found to have committed at least one other factor. Prosecutors argued he was eligible under four factors, including that he intended to kill two or more people; did so in the course of another felony, such as the armed robbery; and acted in a cold, calculated, premeditated manner pursuant to a preconceived plan. The jury agreed.
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"None of the murders were an accident," said prosecutor Nancy Wolfe, the office's first-assistant. "He knew what he was doing. The evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt. There is no other explanation."
If sentenced to death, Hanson will become the 14th condemned man on Illinois' death row. The sentencing phase begins Friday morning.
Hanson, 31, admitted being a thief, but he argued that did not make him a cold-blooded killer.
But, after three hours of deliberations, jurors swiftly convicted Hanson late Wednesday of killing his parents, sister and her husband in late September 2005 in a murderous rampage discovered in the affluent White Eagle subdivision on Aurora's far-east side.
Hanson was found guilty of first-degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated kidnapping and identity theft.
During the trial, the jury listened to more than 50 witnesses and considered about 415 pieces of physical evidence during 10 days of testimony.
The murderous rampage was discovered Sept. 29, 2005, in the home of Katherine "Kate" Hanson-Tsao and her husband, Jimmy, in Aurora. Kate, 31, and her 34-year-old husband were fatally bludgeoned in their home, likely at 10:43 p.m. Sept. 28, 2005, the final keystroke on Jimmy's laptop.
Terrance Hanson, 57, and his wife, Mary, 55, were shot a short time later in their Naperville home, where Eric also lived. The elder couple's bodies, each clad in sleeping attire, were transferred to Kate's home five miles away. Police did not find signs of forced entry to either home; valuables weren't touched.
The existence of a second crime scene in Naperville was crucial because Hanson placed himself in the home that night. He told jurors he was sleeping and didn't hear a disturbance.
Police said they discovered a bloodstained mattress; a fired bullet in the attic, which is on the other side of a wall behind the headboard to the Hansons' bed; and evidence someone used a drill and wood filler to cover the headboard's bullet hole.
"I guess someone else sneaked into that house while he was sleeping and murdered the parents whom he was stealing from," prosecutor Robert Berlin said during his closing argument Wednesday. "Who else has a motive to clean up and make it look like the murders didn't happen in that house?"
Police developed Hanson as a suspect within an hour. His other sister, Jennifer Williams, who lives in Minnesota, identified her brother and said he had threatened to kill Kate six weeks earlier if she told their father about the credit card fraud. Hanson, though, said both his parents knew and agreed to let him pay the money back without police involvement.
Police arrested him one day after the grisly discovery after he returned from a one-day trip in Los Angeles to visit his ex-fiancee. Officers found Kate's $24,000 wedding ring and Jimmy's Rolex watch in his sport-utility vehicle.Hanson explained he simply was returning the jewelry, but didn't get a chance before his trip.
He couldn't explain another piece of evidence crucial to the prosecution. Hanson told jurors he had no idea how a rubber glove with his father's blood ended up in a zipped plastic bag, along with three other gloves,in his SUV.
DuPage Public Defender Robert Miller and Elizabeth Reed, a senior assistant public defender, argued prosecutors lacked a confession, both murder weapons and, despite two crime scenes with four bodies, they did not have a single hair, fiber, fingerprint, or other forms of DNA placing Hanson at either location. In fact, seven unidentified partial bloody shoe prints found at Kate's home could not be traced back to Eric. The defense also told jurors police focused on Hanson from the onset, never even considering another possible suspect.
"Tell me how Eric committed a mass murder without leaving one bit of evidence that a 21st-century crime lab could not detect?" asked Miller, who also questioned if Hanson could have physically pulled off the murders alone.
The prosecution team - Nancy Wolfe, Robert Berlin, and Michael Wolfe - argued the financial motive, timeline, GPS technology, and the other evidence such as the bloody glove and Hanson's multiple lies were overwhelming proof.
DuPage Circuit Judge Robert Anderson is presiding over the trial, in Wheaton.