WHEATON, Ill. -- A suburban Chicago jury said Wednesday that a convicted murderer should be executed for the rape and killing of a 10-year-old girl kidnapped from her home 26 years ago -- a case that helped lead to landmark death penalty reforms in Illinois, including a moratorium on executions.
Patricia Nicarico gasped and put her hand over her mouth as a bailiff announced that Brian Dugan -- who admitted yanking her 10-year-old daughter, Jeanine, out of the family's suburban Chicago home in 1983 -- should die rather than receive another life sentence.
"We are shedding tears of joy," Nicarico told reporters. "A death sentence is never really a joyful thing. But Brian Dugan is someone who deserves it."
Dugan showed no emotion even as Nicarico family members cried behind him, giving each other the thumbs-up sign. The 53-year-old, already serving a life sentence, had been convicted in two other murders.
The jury's decision follows years of court battles in which two other suspects -- Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez -- were tried,
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The case was cited by former Gov. George Ryan as one of several that led to his decision to stop all Illinois executions in 2000, as well as clear the state's death row just before he left office in 2003.
The moratorium remains in place.
