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| Ex-death row inmate given 60 days in DUI case |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/30/2004 |
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Former Death Row inmate Rolando Cruz was sentenced last Monday to 60 days in jail in Livingston County (Ill.) for drunken driving and other traffic charges. Cruz faced up to 364 days in jail after pleading guilty in March to charges stemming from a traffic stop last year on Interstate 55 near Dwight. Livingston County Judge Robert Travers gave Cruz credit for a 40-day sentence he is serving in Cook County for driving with a suspended license. Coupled with time for good behavior, Cruz will spend only about nine days in jail after completing his Cook County sentence. Defense attorney Randy Gordon praised the judge and prosecutors for accepting the deal. But he chided police, who he contends have targeted Cruz since his acquittal nine years ago. Cruz was twice convicted in DuPage County of the 1983 murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville and spent 11 years in prison, including seven on Death Row. He was acquitted during a third trial in 1995 when a police officer changed his story about an incriminating statement Cruz supposedly made. DuPage County State's Atty. Joe Birkett there is no evidence law enforcement has targeted Cruz. "I think it's a matter of him having no respect for the law," Birkett said. |
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