Teodoro Baez Teodoro Baez, a Chicago man who pleaded guilty to a 1999 double murder, has become the second person from Cook County to receive the death penalty since former Gov. George Ryan placed the moratorium in Illinois. Baez used a samurai sword to slay and dismember the bodies of 21-year-old Juan Estrata of Cicero and 24-year-old Janet Mena of Berwyn following a drug dispute. Although insistent that he did not commit the crime, Baez asked the court to give him the death penalty so he could have "closure." In August 2003, Judge Bertina Lampkin found him fit to plead guilty, "fit for sentencing with medication" and eligible for the death penalty. This is the first time Lampkin has handed down the death penalty in the 17 years of her career. Lampkin's decision was also surprising, considering Baez's history of chronic abuse and mental illness. A chronic addict by 13-years-old, Baez has been diagnosed with "borderline personality disorder with paranoid schizoid features." "This case is one of many where mental illness plays a part in who gets the death penalty and who doesn't," said Jane Bohman, executive director of ICADP. "It is unfortunate that Judge Lampkin, knowing all the systemic problems in the Illinois capital punishment system, chose the death penalty over an alternative sentence of life without parole, which would equally protect the safety of the public." ©2004 Illinois Coalition to Abolish The Death Penalty |
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