New Trial in 1987 Ill. Murder Case

S P R I N G F I E L D, Ill., Nov. 17 -- The state Supreme Court overturned theconviction of a man in the 1987 slaying of a 10-year-old girl,saying the prosecution exaggerated hair and fiber evidence and thedefense failed to introduce potentially important testimony.

Prosecutors had argued that tire tracks and footprints linkedCecil Sutherland, a convicted child molester, to the spot inJefferson County where Amy Schulz was raped and stabbed to death inJuly 1987. But friends and relatives say Sutherland got the bootsand tires after the girl’s death.

The court ruled Thursday that Sutherland’s lawyer was wrong notto introduce “evidence discrediting two of the most salient andsignificant items in the state’s case.” That, plus theprosecution’s handling of the hair and fiber evidence, entitle himto a new trial, the court held.

In a dissent, Justice Benjamin Miller found reasons to doubt theevidence on when Sutherland obtained the boots and tires, and saidother evidence supports Sutherland’s guilt.

State Grapples With Death Penalty

Jefferson County State’s Attorney Gary Duncan said he will studythe ruling before deciding whether to retry Sutherland.

Outrage over the girl’s death and Sutherland’s prior convictionled to the establishment of the Amy Schulz Child Advocate Center toaid other child molestation victims and help prosecutors getconvictions.

In another case Thursday, the court overturned the deathsentence against Victor Nieves, saying prosecutors had failed toshow that a New York manslaughter conviction made Nieves eligiblefor the death penalty for a 1992 Chicago murder. But Nieves stillfaces execution for a separate slaying.

Two other death sentences were upheld.

Illinois has been grappling with the death penalty because of astring of cases where men had been found to have be wronglyconvicted.

Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions in January,citing troubling evidence of coerced confessions, misconduct byprosecutors and incompetent defense attorneys. Illinois has about160 people on death row but has not executed anyone since March1999.