Two teens convicted of suburban murders, two different rulings on appeal

Two defendants convicted of murder as teens in notorious suburban killings. Two pleas for leniency based on similar arguments before the same state appeals court. Two completely different outcomes.

In separate rulings filed over the past week, the Elgin-based Second District Court of Appeals ordered a new and possibly reduced sentence for Philip Vatamaniuc for his role in an execution-syle killing that shocked a North Shore community in 2013, but the judges upheld the life sentence given to Joseph Arrieta for the 1995 murders of two men in Glendale Heights.

So why did one catch a break while the other had his hopes dashed? Let's dive in.

How we got here

Both Vatamaniuc and Arrieta were just 17 when they committed the crimes that would send them to prison for most of their lives.

Authorities say Vatamaniuc, of Highland Park, was one of three men who executed 20-year-old Colin Nutter during a drug deal in June 2013. Nutter, also a Highland Park resident, was shot in the head while sitting in a car with his killers, then dumped along the Edens Expressway in Wilmette.

After being found guilty of first-degree murder in 2017, Vatamaniuc was sentenced to 54 years in prison.

Arrieta was sentenced to life after his murder convictions for killing Anthony Moore and Edward Riola in a Glendale Heights apartment where the trio was playing cards and drinking beer. Prosecutors say Arrieta shot Riola three times and Moore six times. When Arrieta later discovered Moore still alive in an apartment bedroom, he shot him again to make sure he died, authorities said.

Central to both their appeals was the U.S. Supreme Court's Miller v. Alabama decision in 2012. In it, the court ruled that life sentences - both literal and de facto - for people under age 18 at the time of a crime violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Judges still can impose life sentences for teenage defendants, the court ruled, but must first find that the accused shows "irretrievable depravity, permanent incorrigibility, or irreparable corruption beyond the possibility of rehabilitation."

And that, according to the appellate court, is where the Vatamaniuc and Arrieta cases differ.

Similar cases, different outcomes

In its 51-page Vatamaniuc ruling - which also rejected his bid for a new trial - the court found that the Lake County judge who sentenced him failed to evaluate whether he is beyond hope for rehabilitation.

"Instead, in issuing the 54-year sentence, the court emphasized the need to 'deter others from thinking it is no big deal (to) murder someone, and act like nothing happened,'" Justice Joseph Birkett wrote in the unanimous decision.

That was not the case for Arrieta, the court decided. Arrieta initially was sentenced to life shortly after his conviction, and again in 2017 after the Miller ruling. According to the Feb. 1 ruling upholding the sentence, the decision to give him life came only after the trial judge thoroughly reviewed Arrieta's criminal history, family background and, perhaps most importantly, continued misbehavior after his arrest and conviction.

"The trial court's sentencing decision passes constitutional muster," Justice George Bridges wrote.

DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin welcomed the ruling.

"After Mr. Arrieta's resentencing hearing, the trial court found that Mr. Arrieta, while he was a juvenile at the time of the murders, certainly earned his life sentence behind bars," he said.

Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said he looks forward to bringing Vatamaniuc's case to a conclusion so his victim's family "can get some closure."

Shots of a different kind

Daily Herald Staff Writer Jim Fuller reported Wednesday that nearly 50% of law-enforcement officers in Kane County have refused to receive the COVID-19 vaccine offered by the Kane County Health Department.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman isn't one of them.

Ziman, who had a bout with the virus last March, jumped at the chance when a last-minute opportunity came her way.

On a Sunday in January, she said, the health department alerted Aurora that it had about 30 vials of vaccine due to expire. Rather than waste them, health officials offered them to public-safety workers.

Besides protecting herself from potential re-infection, Ziman said she hopes her decision serves as an example to officers who are hesitant to be vaccinated.

New job for Nerheim

Former Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim suffered a tough defeat in November, when his bid for a third term as the county's top prosecutor came up short. But he's landed a pretty good consolation prize.

Nerheim was sworn in Monday as Lake County's newest circuit court judge.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Burke administered the oath to Nerheim, whose term will end Dec. 5, 2022. The state Supreme Court appointed Nerheim to take the place of former Judge Valerie Boettle Ceckowski, who retired last week.

"Justice Burke, thank you for recommending me to your colleagues at the Illinois Supreme Court, I am incredibly humbled, honored, and I will not let you down," Nerheim said.

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