Jury deliberates in quadruple murder trial

A DuPage County jury began deliberating early Wednesday night in the death penalty trial of a Naperville man accused of executing his affluent family.

Eric C. Hanson, 31, is charged with killing his parents, sister and her husband in late September 2005 out of greed in the midst of an elaborate credit card scheme in his folks' names.

Hanson admitted being a thief but denied being a murderer Friday during five hours of testimony.

If the jury convicts Hanson, it will be asked to make him the 14th condemned man on Illinois' death row. The panel of eight men and four women began deliberating about 5:30 p.m.

More Coverage Stories Hanson denies killings [02/16/08]Prosecution nearing end of case against Hanson [02/15/08]Pathologist details final moments of life [02/09/08]Second crime scene key [02/07/08]Sister pins blame on her brother [02/06/08]Prosecution turns to former flames [02/02/08]Testimony begins in quadruple murder case [02/01/08] Eric Hanson: 'All I know is, I didn't do it' [01/28/08] How authorities came to charge Eric Hanson [01/27/08] Multimedia Photo Gallery: Hanson trial: Synopsis Photo Gallery: Hanson trial legal team Video: Hanson trial: victims Daily Herald Archives Four in family found slain [09/30/05] Police question victims' relative [10/01/05] Fireplace poker could be crucial piece of puzzle [10/02/05] Relative fighting extradition [10/04/05] Charges loom in quadruple murder case [11/04/05] Suspect set for return to Illinois [11/09/05] Details in quadruple homicide [12/09/05] Death penalty sought in four murders [02/18/06] Alleged threat can be heard [05/18/06] Judge will allow tape in court [05/23/06] Family details get out [06/21/07] The Full Reports Nov. 4 arrest warrant Wisc. extradition request Wisc. arrest warrant Sept. 29 arrest warrant Intimidation charge

"He's had his fair trial," prosecutor Michael Wolfe said in his closing argument. "Now it's time to impose upon him a concept he knows nothing about - and that is responsibility."

But DuPage Public Defender Robert Miller argued prosecutors lack a confession, both murder weapons and, despite two crime scenes with four bodies, a single hair, fiber, fingerprint or shoe print or DNA placing Hanson at either location. In fact, seven unidentified partial bloody shoe prints found at his sister's home were not traced back to Eric.

"Tell me how Eric committed a mass murder without leaving one bit of evidence that a 21st-century crime lab could not detect?" Miller asked.

The murderous rampage was discovered Sept. 29, 2005, in the home of Katherine "Kate" Hanson-Tsao and her husband, Jimmy, in the upscale White Eagle subdivision on Aurora's far-east side.

Kate, 31, and her 34-year-old husband were fatally beaten with a blunt object in their home, likely at 10:43 p.m. Sept. 28, 2005, according to the final keystroke on Jimmy's laptop.

Authorities said 57-year-old Terrance Hanson and his wife, Mary, 55, were shot a short time later in their Naperville home, where Eric also lived. The elder couple's bodies, 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.

Eric Hanson said he was sleeping downstairs when his parents were shot and did not hear a disturbance, even when the killer fired three shots and cleaned the crime scene, including moving a bloody mattress and drilling the headboard to hide damage.

"The defendant testified under oath, 'I don't know what happened. I didn't hear anything' - bologna," Wolfe said. "You can't believe a word that comes out of his mouth."

Police arrested Hanson one day after the grisly discovery after he returned from a one-day trip in Los Angeles to visit his ex-fiancÃcirc;©e. 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.

Detectives had 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 thefts.

Hanson, though, denied making the threat. But prosecutors presented a jailhouse letter he later wrote to his cousin in which he admits threatening Kate.

Hanson told jurors both his parents knew and agreed to let him pay the money back without police involvement.

Prosecutors rested their case Friday with about 50 witnesses and 415 pieces of physical evidence. The prosecution team - Wolfe, Robert Berlin and Nancy Wolfe - argued the financial motive, timeline, GPS technology, and the other evidence such as the bloody glove and Hanson's multiple lies are overwhelming proof.

Miller and Elizabeth Reed, a senior assistant defender, noted prosecutors lack a confession, eyewitnesses and murder weapons. They contend police zeroed in on Hanson from the onset, never considering any other possible suspect.

Besides a lack of physical evidence at the crime scenes, the defense argued Hanson couldn't have physically pulled off the crime alone and in that time frame. And, a partial fingertip print on the plastic bag in Hanson's SUV couldn't be traced to him, either.

The existence of a second crime scene in Naperville is crucial in the trial because Hanson placed himself in the home that night. Berlin focused much of his closing argument on that fact.

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," Berlin said. "Who else has a motive to clean up and make it look like the murders didn't happen in that house?"

Police also found bloodstains elsewhere in the bedroom and in the passenger seat of Mary Hanson's Saturn SUV.

Hanson is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, aggravated kidnapping and identity theft.