Triple-murder gunman will face cameras at sentencing

The gunman who admitted killing three members of a Darien family will face a possible life sentence — and two cameras — when he’s sentenced Monday in DuPage County court.

Judge Daniel Guerin ruled Thursday to allow the news media to photograph and video-record the high-profile hearing for 26-year-old Jacob Nodarse.

Cameras will be nothing new to the former Countryside man, who in April provided key testimony against co-defendant Johnny Borizov in the Chicago area’s first trial with in-court photography.

Guerin said allowing the extended coverage is “consistent” with his earlier rulings in the case. Nodarse’s attorney and prosecutors did not object.

Nodarse faces 45 years to natural life under an agreement with prosecutors. In 2011, he pleaded guilty but mentally ill to one count of murder in the March 2010 slayings of Jeffrey and Lori Kramer and their 20-year-old son, Michael.

In exchange for his testimony against Borizov, prosecutors dismissed additional murder charges that would have mandated a life term. State’s Attorney Bob Berlin hasn’t said what term his office will seek for Nodarse.

“We will ask for a sentence that reflects the severity of the crime but also takes into account his cooperation and his truthful testimony at the Borizov trial,” Berlin said Thursday.

Berlin has said the case put his office in a “unique situation” because Nodarse’s testimony “was the only way to get the truth before the (Borizov) jury.”

In July, Guerin sentenced Borizov to three mandatory, consecutive life terms for masterminding the triple murder during a bitter child-custody battle with Jeffrey and Lori Kramer’s daughter, Angela.

On top of that, the judge hit Borizov, 31, formerly of Willow Springs, with a maximum 30 years for soliciting Nodarse to also kill Angela Kramer, who survived the shooting rampage inside her family’s Darien home by hiding in a closet.

In court Thursday, Assistant State’s Attorney Mandy Meindl said prosecutors do not expect to present many witnesses when Nodarse is sentenced Monday, but several victim-impact statements will be read.

Nodarse’s defense attorney was absent and could not immediately be reached for comment.