MARKHAM, Ill. -- Jurors took less than three hours Thursday to find former daycare operator Sandra Fabiano innocent of sexually molesting a preschool child entrusted to her care.
The verdict capped an emotional, 12-day trial during which Fabiano, 42, a mother of two, was described by prosecutors as a woman who likes to 'play with little girls.'
'I'm innocent. I was found not guilty,' a jubilant Fabiano declared. 'I thank them (jurors). I thank them.
'The only time I felt this good was when I gave birth to my two kids.'
Prosecutors declined to say whether additional sexual abuse cases pending against Fabiano would be brought to trial, nor would the speculate on what effect the innocent verdict would have on those cases.
'I thought we tried a good case and the evidence went in well. But obviously we were disappointed by the verdict.'
Attorneys for Fabiano and the state were due back in court on April 26, at which time Cagney said the prosecution would make known its decision on whether to pursue the cases.
The case went to the jury at 5:10 p.m. after Cook County Circuit Judge Frank Meekins rejected a second defense motion for a directed verdict of acquittal. Defense attorney Stephen Komie sought a directed verdict at the conclusion of the state's case last week.
Later, during a celebration with friends and family, Fabiano expressed relief at the verdict and optimism about her family's future.
'We're going to start a new life, like newlyweds,' she said, flanked by her husband, Frank and Komie.
In closing arguments, Cagney and Assistant State's Attorney Richard Burke had urged the jury to disregard testimony from a parade of 33 defense witnesses -- including family members, employees and child abuse experts -- and convict Fabiano of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 3-year-old girl.
'They don't know what she does in the dark when she has power over these little children,' Cagney said.
The trial centered on assault and abuse allegations by one of the children, who was not named publicly. Fabiano could face trial on charges of assaulting three other children.
The girl, now 5, testified that Fabiano had sexually molested during nap time at the pre-school.
'Sandy put her finger in my wee-wee. It hurt,' the child told the jury.
In a dramatic moment, the girl pointed to Fabiano, seated at the defense table and identified her as her assailant.
Describing the case against Fabiano as 'private-type crimes ... committed in the dark,' Burke warned jurors of the dangerous nature of the charges.
'You know there's a part of Sandra Fabiano that likes to play with little girls,' Burke said.
Fabiano, of Palos Hills, who operated the Mother Goose and Kid Stop day care centers until the sex abuse allegations were made in the summer of 1986, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and child abuse of four children in her care. Both centers were closed.
Komie, urging acquittal for Fabiano, told jurors, 'This was a school, not a sinister sex shop.'
A key element of the defense was the contention the mother of the child witness, who first made the sex abuse allegation, was a cocaine abuser and was antagonistic toward Fabiano's administration of the school.
Fabiano's dream of operating a child care center was destroyed 'because of the accusations of a cocaine-using mama,' Komie said.
Before the jurors retired to deliberate Fabiano's fate, Komie asked them to think about her family.
'Right now, they're all down at the end of the corridor praying with the rosary. They're on the ground, on their knees, praying.'
