DuPage prosecutors drop appeal of ruling granting Randy Liebich a new trial
DuPage County prosecutors have decided to drop their appeal of Judge John Kinsella's Sept. 14 ruling granting Randy Liebich a new trial in the 2002 death of a toddler he was baby-sitting.
Paul Darrah, spokesman for DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin, confirmed that the office dismissed the appeal Friday but declined to comment further.
At the conclusion of a 2018 hearing, Kinsella ruled that Liebich, of Westmont, was denied a fair trial in 2004 when he was convicted of first-degree murder for killing 2-year-old Steven Quinn Jr., who was the son of Liebich's girlfriend at the time.
Kinsella later said he reviewed Liebich's "largely unremarkable" criminal history before his conviction and his conduct reports during the time he was incarcerated and weighed them against the fact that Liebich remains accused of first-degree murder when he set bail at $300,000 and placed Liebich on GPS monitoring.
Shortly after Kinsella's ruling, prosecutors announced they had sent the case back to the Second District Appellate Court.
The hearing, which ultimately granted Liebich the right to a new trial, actually was ordered by the Second District Appellate Court to determine whether Liebich, 39, should be granted a new trial on the basis of "ineffective assistance of counsel."
In its 2016 ruling, the appellate court found former assistant public defenders Ricky Holman and John Casey failed to adequately investigate alternate scientific explanations that could have explained the boy's internal brain and abdominal wounds and, ultimately, his death.
Prosecutors must now decide whether to retry Liebich or dismiss the charges. Darrah said Friday that there is no time limit for a retrial but "it is left to the judge's discretion within a reasonable amount of time."
Liebich's next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, at which time his attorneys from The Exoneration Project will seek a court order to have his conditions of bail modified to have his GPS monitor removed.
In her written motion, attorney Tara Thompson said the "oppressive" $10 a day fee has totaled more than $2,000 since Liebich posted bail Sept. 24.
In lieu of electronic monitoring, Thompson has suggested Kinsella place Liebich on a "curfew as opposed to house arrest, lowering Liebich's bail from $30,000 to $15,000 so that a significant portion of the bail can be refunded to him for him to use in supporting himself, and/or waiving electronic monitoring costs."