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State to free 18th person who was on Death Row '86 case has long been controversial By Steve Mills May 27, 2004 Prosecutors plan to drop the double murder case against Gordon "Randy" Steidl, a Downstate Paris man who spent 12 years on Death Row and another five years under a life sentence for the killings. Attorneys at the state appellate prosecutors office, which has been reviewing the case for two months, have sent a motion to drop the case against Steidl to a judge in Edgar County, where the crime occurred. The judge is scheduled to sign the document Friday, according to defense attorneys, and Steidl is expected to be released from the Danville Correctional Facility. He would become the 18th person in Illinois to be exonerated after being sentenced to death. "It's been a very long road for me, and a much longer road for Randy," said Springfield attorney Michael Metnick, who has represented Steidl since the late 1980s. "But we're greatly relieved, just overwhelmed, that he'll finally be released." The prosecutors' decision does not affect Steidl's co-defendant, Herbert Whitlock, who was convicted on the same evidence as Steidl and is serving a life sentence. Like Steidl, Whitlock has long maintained he is innocent, and his attorney is working on his appeals. Steidl, 52, and Whitlock, 58, were convicted of the July 1986 murders of newlyweds Dyke and Karen Rhoads, who were stabbed dozens of times and had their Paris home set on fire in what the police said was an attempt to destroy evidence. The case long has been controversial. An Illinois State Police inquiry four years ago concluded that the local police had botched the initial investigation so badly that it led to the convictions of innocent men. No physical evidence has ever linked Steidl and Whitlock to the murders. The main witnesses against them, both of whom went to police long after the crime, have recanted the testimony they gave during the trial--one of them repeatedly and even on videotape. The evidence prosecutors said corroborated their testimony has long since been discredited. Deborah Reinholt claimed she witnessed the murders, and she pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain to concealing a homicide in exchange for a 2-year sentence. But Reinholt has recanted at least three times, including during a lengthy videotaped interview with Metnick. In addition, work records and a work supervisor said she was at work when she testified that she witnessed events leading to the crime, and consequently could not have seen them. Darrell Harrington also has implicated Steidl and Whitlock, but he too has recanted his testimony. Attorney in `over his head' Steidl won a new sentencing hearing because his trial attorney, John Muller, was deemed ineffective. In 1999, he was sentenced to life without parole, but he, along with his attorneys, continued to fight his case. Last year, a federal judge awarded Steidl a new trial, saying that Muller had failed to investigate all the avenues that might have cast doubt on the prosecution case. He said that if all the evidence had been presented at trial, it was "reasonably probable" a jury would have found Steidl not guilty. Metnick said Muller, who has since died, was unprepared for a death penalty case and had little experience with serious felonies. "On Monday, he was a divorce attorney," said Metnick. "On Tuesday, he might represent someone in a barroom fight. Then, on Wednesday, he might do probate. ... He was absolutely over his head doing this case." After Steidl received a new trial, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan ordered a reinvestigation of the entire case, including DNA testing of remaining evidence, but found no connections between any of the evidence and Steidl and Whitlock. In March, Madigan decided not to appeal the new trial ruling. Rob Warden of Northwestern University's Center on Wrongful Convictions, whose attorneys had worked on the case, said that even after the evidence against Steidl and Whitlock had been discredited, the two men could not get relief from the appeals courts. "The idea that it would take years and years for some kind of relief after facts that clearly established the innocence of these two guys is a sad commentary on the Illinois justice system," said Warden. No good news for Whitlock Whitlock's future is uncertain. His attorney, Richard Kling of Chicago, said he believed that somehow Whitlock would win release. He can continue to pursue appeals or seek a pardon from Gov. Rod Blagojevich. "I'm disappointed the decision on the case doesn't affect both people equally," said Kling. "It's identical evidence. ... It's a question of whether it's a waste of taxpayer money to not treat him the same." Other cases have turned out the same way. Aaron Patterson was pardoned by Gov. George Ryan for a double murder conviction. But his co-defendant, Eric Caine, remains imprisoned though both cases have the same weaknesses and Caine's might even be weaker. Rolando Cruz was exonerated of the1983 murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville before co-defendant Alejandro Hernandez. The Steidl case has drawn considerable investigation over the years. Bill Clutter, a Downstate investigator who works with Metnick, has worked on the case since 1991. Journalism students studying with Northwestern's David Protess also have done investigative work on the case. Tribune columnist Eric Zorn detailed the problems in the case in a series of columns in 2000. Clutter said Wednesday that all that work is now paying off. "The big difference was having a federal [judge] just unconnected to the local legal establishment," he said. "We finally got a judge to objectively look at this." Metnick said the case "crystallized" much of what was wrong with the Illinois death penalty system. The crime was sensational and consequently a "heater" case for police, meaning there was considerable pressure to solve it. What's more, the defense attorney was ill-equipped to handle such a complex case, witnesses lied, and the appeals process proved slow to deal with the problems in the case. Prosecutors also have insisted Steidl and Whitlock were guilty in spite of the case's problems. Metnick said prosecutor David Rands told him that Steidl will be released Friday after a judge signs the order that drops the case. Then Metnick plans to go to Danville with attorney Kathryn Saltmarsh, who also has worked on the case for many years, to deliver it to prison officials and pick up Steidl. Rands, reached on Wednesday, declined to comment on the case. Steidl, who Metnick said married a childhood sweetheart while in prison, will then go home and, according to Metnick, wants some privacy initially. "Then," said Metnick, "he'll discuss and make decisions about what's next for him." Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune |
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