The men were convicted on the basis of police perjury, witness perjury, tampering with evidence, and Cruz's alleged "confession. Both men were reconvicted after their convictions were overturned on appeal.
They were sentenced to death after their retrial. Cruz waived his right to a jury trial for his third trial, and the judge acquitted him. Cruz' acquittal was based on a sheriff deputy's sworn admission that he had perjured himself with the knowledge of his superiors and multiple prosecutors, and DNA testing of crime scene evidence in September that excluded Cruz and Hernandez , and the absence of any physical evidence.
The DNA tests were unavailable at the time of their convictions. Cruz was released on November 3, The DuPage County state's attorney filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Hernandez, that was granted in December , and he was released. Three prosecutors and four sheriff deputy's were criminally charged in a conspiracy to have them falsely convicted and executed.
None of those defendants were convicted. Charges against Hernandez were dismissed and he was freed a month after Cruz. DNA eventually established definitively that Dugan committed the rape and murder of Jeanine Nicarico. He pleaded guilty and, after a jury hearing, was sentenced to death in In March , Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the Illinois death penalty and commuted the death sentences of Dugan and 14 other men then on death row to life in prison without parole.
Assualt, Agg. Abuse, Agg. Help us advocate for the innocent by sharing cases from the Innocence Project. Press Release. Special Features. Rolando Cruz Time Served: 10 years. Abuse Sentence: Death. The trial judge then directed a verdict of not guilty. Hernandez's second conviction was reversed a few weeks later, and prosecutors dropped the charges against him. In the aftermath of the exonerations, a special DuPage County grand jury indicted four sheriff's deputies and three former prosecutors for their roles in the case.
Charges included perjury and obstruction of justice. In November , a DuPage County grand jury indicted Dugan for the crime — to which he had offered to plead guilty 20 years earlier in exchange for an agreement not to seek the death penalty. In July , Dugan dropped his demand that the prosecution forego seeking a death sentence and entered a blind plea of guilty.
He was sentenced to death the following November, and spent the next sixteen months on death row — until March when Governor Pat Quinn signed legislation abolishing the Illinois death penalty and at the same time commuted the death sentences of Dugan and fourteen other men on death row to life in prison without parole.
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