Dugan sentenced to death in Illinois

WHEATON, Ill., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A jury in Illinois Wednesday sentenced Brian Dugan to death for abducting, raping and killing a 10-year-old Naperville girl 26 years ago.

Members of Jeanine Nicarico's family cried and shouted "yes!" when the verdict was announced in the DuPage County courtroom, but no sign of emotion crossed Dugan's face, the Chicago Tribune reported.

"I'm shedding tears not of sadness but joy," said Patricia Nicarico, Jeanine's mother. "But not real joy. A small measure of closure. But we have satisfaction knowing he is on death row."

The verdict culminated 11 hours of deliberation following six weeks of the punishment phase of Dugan's trial.

Dugan, a serial rapist already serving a life in prison for two other murders, was charged in the girl's death after two other defendants were convicted and then cleared. Advanced DNA testing linked him to the slaying.

The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reported the jury agreed unanimously Dugan, 53, should be executed for the Feb. 25, 1983, crime.

He will join 15 men on Illinois' death row. The state hasn't executed anyone in more than a decade.

Dugan has been serving life terms since 1985 for the sex slayings of Donna Schnorr, 27, of Geneva, and Missy Ackerman, 7, of Somonauk.

Also in the courtroom to hear the verdict were the families of Dugan's other victims and several women who survived violent encounters with him.