Closing arguments in the sentencing hearing for convicted murderer and rapist Brian Dugan will begin at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow at the DuPage County courthouse in Wheaton, court officials said.
Dugan, 53, faces the death penalty if the 12-person DuPage County jury unanimously approves the sentence for the 1983 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville.
Dugan is currently serving two life sentences for the murders of Donna Schnorr, 27, of Geneva and 7-year-old Melissa Ackerman of Somonauk.
Dugan is also linked to about a dozen rapes or attempted rapes across the Chicago area, including that of a 25-year-old Elmhurst teacher in 1977.
Dugan’s sentencing hearing has lasted about five weeks, during which his counsel has argued that Dugan’s psychopathy is a brain defect that should spare him from the death penalty. Defense has also argued that by confessing to two previous murders in 1985, he cleared the names of two Aurora men previously on death row.
Prosecutors have argued that Dugan is a merciless, manipulative criminal who deserves death for his crimes.
Should the jury not unanimously sentence Dugan to death, Circuit Judge George Bakalis will impose a third life sentence for Dugan.
This story will be updated.
