NATIONAL BRIEFING / ILLINOIS
Times Staff and Wire Reports
DuPage County jurors condemned Brian Dugan to death for the 1983 rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico.
Jeanine’s family hugged Opal Horton, 32, who testified at the sentencing hearing. Dugan had tried to kidnap Horton two years later, when she was 8; she escaped, but her best friend was raped and killed.
The judge will set an execution date Dec. 16, but by law, the sentence will be automatically appealed.
Dugan pleaded guilty in July, allowing the case to go directly to sentencing.
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